Over 60,000 oximeters for those in COVID-19 isolation in capital

NEW DELHI:  The Delhi government has so far provided 60,042 oximeters to home quarantined Covid-19 patients in the city to help them check their oxygen levels, according to official figures.

The Arvind Kejriwal government had in June announced to provide oximeters to the Covid-19 patients in home isolation with no symptoms or mild symptoms of the disease and facing breathing problems due to low oxygen levels.

“It was started with a view to be able to provide treatment and shift any such patients to hospital for medical care. Thousands of oximeters distributed have saved many lives of patients in home isolation,” a senior government official said.

According to the latest figures, the districts where most oximeters have been provided are West (7,504), Central (7,050), South West(6,953), North West (6,656) and East (5,925) districts. Oximeters are devices used to measure oxygen level in blood.

With a drop in blood oxygen level, patients suffer breathing difficulties and need to be admitted to hospitals if their oxygen saturation drops to 90 per cent or below.