Situation in Delhi ‘fully under control’, say officials amid rise in Covid cases

Amid a rise in Covid cases, the Delhi government has stepped up preparations, including arranging hospital beds, medical oxygen and medicines, officials said on Wednesday and asserted that the situation is “fully under control”.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is keeping a close watch on the Covid situation and is in constant touch with top officials to ensure that both the infection is controlled and preparations are in place to meet any eventuality, they said.

“The government has arranged adequate number of hospital beds, medical oxygen and medicines although hospitalisations are very low,” officials said during a meeting the of Delhi Disaster Management Authority(DDMA) on Wednesday.

According to figures, only 80 beds (0.82 percent) of the total 9,737 beds in hospitals here were occupied. The occupancy of oxygen-supported beds was 0.64 percent, ICU beds 0.91 percent, and ventilator beds 1.03 percent.

Of the total 1,729 active cases on April 18, 40 were hospitalised, 12 were on oxygen support, nine were in ICU, five on ICU and oxygen support and one on ventilator, according to figures.

The Arvind Kejriwal government has targeted to scale up hospital beds to 37,000 of which 31,622 were ready by April 19. Out of total 10,594 ICU beds, 9,274 have been readied, official data showed.

Officials said availability of all drugs for the treatment of comborbidities and other medicines related to Covid has also been ensured.
The medical oxygen infrastructure has also been scaled up to over 991 MT by April 19 while it was 730 MT till May 31 last year.

A buffer stock 442 MT of liquid medical oxygen was also readied by the government. A total of 97 PSA oxygen plants were running in the city with a combined capacity of over 116 MT, they said.

Two cryogenic bottling plants with capacity of 12.5 MT have been installed that can refill refill 1,400 jumbo cylinders per day, they said.
Shortage of oxygen supply had claimed many lives in Delhi during the second Covid wave in 2021.

Officials said work has also been awarded for 15 LMO tankers of which one tanker has been received. Three more will be delivered by the end of April.
While one tanker will be delivered by May 15 and five tankers will be delivered by June 19, officials said during the meeting.

The government has also maintained an operational fleet of 240 CATS ambulances for aiding patients. Besides, 65 ambulances have also been hired. The fleet of ambulances is planned to be raised to 350 shortly, they added.