A health worker collects a swab sample at a testing centre in New Delhi. (Reuters/Adnan Abidi)Delhi registered 6,953 fresh Covid cases Saturday and 79 deaths — numbers that deepened anxiety around the resurgence of infections in the city — setting the Delhi government scrambling to increase the number of beds in hospitals.
The positivity rate was 12.11% on Saturday. “We have issued an order to add 1,185 beds for Covid patients in both Delhi government hospitals as well as many private hospitals. Five hundred beds are to be augmented at state government-run Covid facilities, including 110 ICU beds,” said Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain.
Meanwhile, Gurgaon Saturday recorded 523 new Covid cases, making it the fifth day this month when the count of fresh cases crossed 500. The district has so far recorded 33,778 cases, of which 28,920 have recovered and 225 have succumbed to the virus. It currently has 4,562 active cases, of which a majority — 4,261 — are in home isolation.
However, only 400 or less than 2% of recovered people from the district have come forward to donate plasma, of which 244 were found healthy and eligible to donate, health department officials said. A total of 488 units were collected from them, of which 476 have already been issued to Covid patients.
Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri maintained that awareness regarding this has increased in the district: “Many are coming to donate plasma multiple times. Over 21 people in Gurgaon have donated plasma more than once.”
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Virender Yadav added, “We appeal to people who have recovered from Covid to come forward and donate plasma, as it can help save lives of other infected persons.”