Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. (File) Amid rising Covid cases in the city, the Delhi government has augmented ICU beds by 25% in 33 private hospitals, a move that will strengthen healthcare infrastructure to tackle the ongoing virus surge. As many as 230 ICU beds and 842 general beds have been increased in the 33 hospitals.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that the government had decided to increase the number of general and ICU beds after a spike in the daily number of infections and increased rate of hospitalisation.
“There are enough beds in Delhi government hospitals. The overall occupancy rate of private and government hospitals is 25%. It is a comfortable situation, but there were instances of shortage of beds in two-three hospitals. Therefore, orders were issued yesterday,” said Health Minister Satyendar Jain.
At present, 5,882 beds are reserved for Covid-19 patients, out of which 1,875 (31.8%) are occupied. The data on Delhi government’s Corona app shows that of the 787 ICU beds with ventilators reserved for critical patients, 305 (38.7%) are occupied.
Critical care facilities in some hospitals — Fortis Escorts, Fortis Shalimar Bagh, Max SS hospital Shalimar Bagh, Shree Agrasain International hospital and Venkateshwar hospital — were running full as on Wednesday evening.
The city saw 1,819 new Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths in the last 24 hours, with the positivity rate being recorded at 2.71%. A total of 67,070 tests were conducted.
From Thursday, the city will start the vaccination drive for the people above 45 years of age. According to officials, there are 65 lakh people in Delhi who will fall under the age group, including 20 lakh who are above 60.
“All 500 vaccine centres will be operational from 9 am to 9 pm and walk-in hours have been set at 3 om onwards, in which those who haven’t registered online can directly come to the centre and get inoculated. We do have sufficient vials as of now to vaccinate the desired population,” Jain said.
50% beds in Gurgaon for Covid patients
In light of the surge in Covid cases in Gurgaon over the last few weeks, the Gurgaon DM issued orders Wednesday directing all hospitals to reserve 50% of their beds for patients. Hospitals were so far reserving 35% of their beds for Covid patients. On Wednesday, 276 new cases were reported in Gurgaon. The district has 1,943 active cases of coronavirus, of which 1,784 are in home isolation.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
