Delhi Covid lockdown news live: 25 'sickest' patients die at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital; oxygen stock will last another 2 hours

With a major surge in the number of serving and retired military personnel being affected by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Army is converting the Base Hospital in Delhi Cantonment into a 1,000-bed facility. “It should be activated in a week, even as 23 mobile oxygen generation plants are being airlifted from Germany. These will be deployed in the hospital and provide adequate oxygen to the needy,” said Army spokesperson Colonel Aman Anand.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has issued new guidelines for supply and allocation of oxygen supply across the national capital and said oxygen supply to all health establishments will be strictly regulated as per allocation orders issued by the government from time to time. (ANI)

When CS Mittal’s oxygen levels started dropping, his wife Namita became increasingly worried. The 45-year-old engineer, who lives in Gaur Saundaryam in Greater Noida (West), tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week and had been in home isolation since then. With reports of oxygen supplies running out at hospitals across Delhi-NCR, Namita started a frantic search for a cylinder. Relief came in the form of a taskforce of some residents in their society, who delivered an oxygen cylinder to their doorstep around 3am on Wednesday. With their help, Mittal was later taken to Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar.

Delhi recorded 306 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours on Thursday, the highest since the pandemic began a year ago. It comes at a time when new cases continue to rise exponentially and there is an acute shortage of critical facilities. Hospitals say the death numbers may go up further if the availability of oxygen support, ICU and ventilator beds isn’t augmented fast. Read more

Testing has reduced significantly in Delhi over the past few days even as the infection is surging. Doctors say this will adversely affect timely diagnosis, isolation and treatment of Covid-19 patients. “Testing, tracking and treating are the main pillars of Covid management,” said a doctor.

Delhi is planning to bring oxygen from Odisha by air so that the supply shortage can be immediately met. In a press conference, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said the capital’s quota of oxygen has been increased from 378 metric tonnes to 480 metric tonnes and there was an urgent need for all states to work together for ensuring the required oxygen supply to the states in need. Read more

With numerous private and government hospitals in Delhi left holding only a few hours of oxygen and some not even that, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday urged the Centre to intervene and stop the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments from hoarding and monopolising the supply earmarked for the national capital.

A day after it flayed the central government over its handling of the supply of medical-use oxygen in the capital, Delhi High Court instructed all authorities on Thursday to strictly comply with the orders related to oxygen supply or face criminal action. Read more