NEW DELHI: Delhi looked poised for more restrictions in the coming days as fresh Covid cases again hit a new high of 25,462 with 161 deaths on Sunday.
In the last two days, nearly 50,000 persons have tested positive and nearly 330 people have died of Covid. The rising cases have put an unprecedented stress on the existing health infrastructure and the availability of oxygen.
CM Arvind
Kejriwal will meet LG Anil Baijal Monday to discuss the impact of the weekend curfew and take a call on whether further curbs, including the extension of the weekend curfew, are needed. The weekend curfew will end at 5am on Monday. According to sources, the government may extend the weekend curfew, but there was no official confirmation on this.
“In the last 24 hours, 25,500 Covid cases have come up. Before that, we had 24,000 cases, and the day before that we had 19,500 cases. The cases are increasing rapidly. Another concern is that in the last 24 hours, the positivity rate has increased to 30%... (from) around 24% the day before,” Kejriwal said.
Active cases now 75k, govt adds 2k beds in 12 hospitalsA positivity rate of almost 30% means nearly one in every three persons is testing positive for coronavirus. The positivity rate jumped by 6 percentage points in only 24 hours, which means the infection i s spreading very fast.
The number of active cases has jumped to 75,000; of them, 35,000 are under home isolation. Hospitals are filling up fast, leading to an acute shortage of beds.
The government on Sunday added over 2,000 Covid beds across 12 Delhi government hospitals. Two hundred beds have been increased in Lok Nayak Hospital, 350 beds in Burari hospital, 400 in Ambedkar Hospital, and 300 in DDU hospital, besides some other hospitals.
“If we take a look at the situation in Delhi, we have noted that the number of available beds reserved for Covid is reducing rapidly. A large number of patients are being admitted to hospitals and we are falling short of ICU beds. In Delhi, we are now left with less than 100 ICU beds. We are falling short of oxygen as well. Last night, a private hospital told us that the shortage was so severe that they just about managed to prevent a tragedy.
We have been in touch with the Centre, and have asked for aid, which we are getting; and for that, we’d like to thank them,” Kejriwal said.
An order has also been issued for all nursing homes and private hospitals providing Covid treatment to reserve at least 80% of their ICU bed capacity and 80% of their ward bed capacity for Covid patients.
In Gurugram, ventilator beds’ demand hits new high
A number of residents were seen scrambling on Sunday to get Covid-19 patients in their families admitted to hospitals, with the sudden surge in Covid cases putting a strain on Gurugram’s medical infrastructure.
The ICU and ventilator beds are nearing capacityat present, and only 17 of the 491 ICU beds and eight of the 233 ventilator beds are vacant. Notably, 228 oxygen beds were still available in the millennium city on Sunday.
On Sunday, as many as 2,401 people were found positive for Covid-19 in Gurugram. Also, the tally breached the 80,000-mark to climb to 81,725.