Delhi Covid lockdown news live: Positivity rate down by a half in city

The Delhi high court on Wednesday said it is “high time” the Centre fixes the MRP of oxygen concentrators and other equipment much in demand for Covid treatment. This will put an immediate end to hoarding and black marketing, it noted, while hearing submissions relating to cases slapped for alleged hoarding and black marketing of medicines and equipment. A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli passed the direction after it was found that the last meeting on the issue was held by the Centre as early as June last year, but no follow up was done to take a decision. “The concentrators fall within the definition of drugs and apparatus,” the court said.

When it was time to perform “zakat” this year, Sadaf Hussain, a chef and author, decided to extend help to a few organisations currently involved in Covid relief work. Zakat is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, and requires all Muslims to pay 2.5% of their wealth or savings to charity. Hussain, who hails from Sasaram in Bihar, said his family usually gave money to a madrassa. “Because this year, the situation is tougher, my brother and I contributed to multiple foundations working for Covid relief. I don’t consider it obligatory, but as a means to help people in these times of trouble.”

As no new consignment of vaccines reached Gurgaon on Wednesday for people in the18-44 years age group, government centres will not hold any session of Covaxin on Thursday. The city had received 4,500 doses of Covaxin for the age group on Tuesday. Officials said the stock had been exhausted. The city’s Covishield stock for this age group is also over. After a mop-up at public health centres, a total of 800 doses of Covishield were gathered and these will be administered to people at eight sites on Thursday. These would be the last sessions at government sites for this age category till a fresh batch of vaccines arrives, officials said. People in the18-44 age group were being inoculated at 37 government session sites and two private centres — Max and Fortis hospitals. While Max has Covishield, Fortis has Covaxin doses, according to an official in the health department. Both hospitals together have been inoculating 600-700 people daily.

The AAP government on Tuesday was questioned by Delhi HC for not yet fully operationalising a 250-bed hospital in Dwarka despite assurances. A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli said the government must “learn from the bitter experience of Delhi citizens”, adding many couldn’t find beds, oxygen and “unfortunately succumbed to the disease without getting the chance to be treated”. The HC was surprised by revelations made in the government’s affidavit that the Indira Gandhi Hospital, meant to be operational with 1,241 beds, is only being used as a temporary facility, that too, for patients with mild symptoms, and doesn’t have ICU/O2 beds.

Hundred vaccination sites administering Covaxin to the 18-44 age-group, located at 17 schools, have been closed down by the Delhi government due to vaccine shortage. Bharat Biotech, the maker of Covaxin, has written to the government about its inability to supply additional jabs to Delhi. The AAP government had on May 7 requested BB to provide large quantities of Covaxin supplies so that the vaccination programme can be speeded up. The firm wrote to the principal secretary, health and family welfare it was “making dispatches as per the directives of the concerned (central) government officials. We therefore regret we can’t make any additional supplies.”

Delhi recorded 13,287 fresh Covid-19 cases on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 17.03%, the third day in a row that the capital saw a positivity rate below 20%. The number of Covid-19 fatalities, however, remained high at 300. The 13,287 new Covid-19 cases were recorded from 78,035 tests, out of which 63,315 were RT-PCR tests and 14,720 rapid antigen tests. With 14,071 people recovering from the disease in the last 24 hours, the total number of active cases stood at 82,725 on Wednesday.