Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said the Capital has taken a monumental step in the fight against COVID-19 by administering the first dose of vaccine to 100% of its eligible population.
According to Mr. Kejriwal, 148.33 lakh citizens had been vaccinated with at least one dose so far and more than 1.035 crore people had taken the second dose. He saluted all the healthcare and front-line workers for their contribution to this cause.
The Chief Minister said Delhi was largely safe from the virus and the government was prepared to deal with the Omicron variant at every level.
Easy accessibility
Apart from hospitals, vaccination services were made available in schools and mohalla clinics in addition to drive-through centres so that people could easily obtain the vaccine, the government stated.
Mr. Kejriwal had held a high-level review meeting at the Delhi Secretariat on Thursday and issued crucial directives to the officers to deal with the Omicron variant. The directions pertained to adequate arrangements regarding hospitals, beds, medicines, oxygen and strengthening home isolation. It was also decided at the review meeting to increase the testing capacity.
Following the meeting, the government said, Delhi will be able to conduct three lakh tests per day if necessary and the government is preparing for the possibility of even one lakh cases emerging per day.
Upgrading facilities
According to the government, it currently has a capacity of 1,100 household visits per day, which will be increased to one lakh in the near future, 15 tankers are being used to transport oxygen and will be available in Delhi within the next three weeks.
Since antibodies were found in more than 95% of the population in the sero survey, the government averred the possibility of the Omicron variant outbreak being ‘minor’.
Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal chaired a significant meeting regarding the enforcement of COVID appropriate behaviour across the city. He advised Delhi Police Commissioner and Divisional Commissioner (Revenue) to strictly ensure compliance of COVID appropriate behaviour in line with the latest DDMA guidelines. All police officers and field functionaries have been directed to immediately ensure strict enforcement of DDMA order dated December 15 in letter and spirit, a source added.
Upward trend
Meanwhile, the city continued its upward trend with 180 new COVID-19 cases being reported in the last 24 hours, the highest in more than six months.
This takes the total number of cases to 14,42,813, as per a government bulletin. Sixty-seven cases of Omicron variant have been reported till now, as per official figures, and 23 of them have been discharged.
A total of 62,697 tests were done in a day and the test positivity rate (TPR) was 0.29%, which is also the highest in almost six months. There was no new COVID-19-related death in the last 24 hours and the total number of deaths stood at 25,103. Of the total cases, 14,16,928 people have recovered and there are 782 active cases.
After a peak in November last year, the number of new COVID-19 cases fell through December last year, January and most of February. From mid-April people started finding it difficult to find beds in hospitals and the TPR peaked at 36.2% on April 22 and since then, it has stayed below it.
The highest number of daily new cases in Delhi till now was reported on April 20, when 28,325 cases were reported.
