Delhi COVID hospitals get 1,300 ICU beds, 2,000 normal ones in two weeks; CM monitoring situation

NEW DELHI: Amid a surge in coronavirus cases and deaths, as many as 2,000 normal and 1,300 ICU beds have been added in hospitals of Delhi in the past two weeks for COVID-19 patients, an official said on Wednesday.

The official said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been monitoring the situation, and added that all efforts are being made by the Delhi government to bring down the mortality rate.

The death rate stood at 1.89 per cent on Tuesday.

The national capital recorded over 100 COVID-19 deaths for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday.

"A total of 1,300 ICU beds and 2,000 non-ICU beds for COVID-19 patients have been added in Delhi in the past two weeks, with the maximum 232 ICU beds in GTB Hospital. In Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, 200 ICU beds have been added in the same period," the official said.

He also said that there are currently 9,000 normal beds and over 1,000 ICU beds available for coronavirus patients in the national capital.

During a COVID-19 review meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, Kejriwal had requested the PM to reserve 1,000 ICU beds for Delhiites in Centre-run hospitals like AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital.

Kejriwal had said if the central government reserves these ICU beds in its hospitals in the city for the people of Delhi amid a surge in coronavirus case, "it will be a great support to us".

At the meeting, the chief minister had underlined that the high severity of the third wave of COVID-19 cases in the national capital is due to many factors, with pollution being a significant one.

He said Delhi saw the peak of 8,600 coronavirus infections on November 10 during the third wave and since then, the number of cases as well as the positivity rate are steadily decreasing.

The chief minister hoped that this decreasing trend would continue in the national capital.

On Tuesday, Delhi recorded 6,224 fresh COVID-19 cases and a positivity rate of 10.14 per cent while 109 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 8,621.