NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has decided to increase 5,650 normal beds and 2,075 ICU beds for coronavirus patients in 14 hospitals, along with 2,800 beds in eight COVID-care centres, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Saturday.
In a statement, he said the Delhi government is making all necessary arrangements in view of the rising coronavirus cases and the situation is normal.
"Around 13,300 beds are still available for patients in Delhi hospitals. It has been decided to increase the number of beds. The Delhi government is ready to deal with the most serious situation. Delhi's health system is fully prepared to prevent this wave of coronavirus and provide timely treatment to all the people of the state," Jain said.
Among the 14 hospitals, 1,500 normal and 330 ICU beds are being increased in Indira Gandhi Hospital, 750 normal and 500 ICU beds in Lok Nayak Hospital, 750 normal and 400 ICU beds in the GTB Hospital, 400 normal and 195 ICU beds in Burari Hospital, 300 normal and 150 ICU beds in Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, 100 normal and 50 ICU beds in Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, 150 normal and 75 ICU beds in Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital.
One hundred normal and 25 ICU beds are being augmented in Shree Dadadev Matri and Shishu Chikitsalaya, 100 normal and 25 ICU beds in Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, 100 normal and 25 ICU beds in Acharya Shree Bhikshu Hospital, 100 normal and 25 ICU beds in Bhagwan Mahaveer Hospital, 150 normal and 100 ICU beds in Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, 600 normal and 100 ICU beds in Ambedkar Hospital and 150 normal and 75 ICU beds in Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar.
Among the eight COVID-care centres, 1,000 beds will be increased in Sardar Vallabhai Patel Covid Care Centre Radha Swami Beas, Chattarpur, 500 beds in Sant Nirankari Covid Care Centre, 400 beds at CWG Complex, Akshardham, 400 beds at Yamuna Sports Complex, Surajmal Vihar, 200 beds at GTB DEM Block, 100 beds in Chaudhary Brahm Prakash Ayurved Charak Sansthan, 100 beds in A&U Tibbia College Hospital, and 100 beds in Shehnai Banquet Hall.
Jain urged people to follow COVID-19 guidelines by wearing masks and following social distancing for safety while going to public places.
He also requested people not to come out of their house for unnecessary work.
Delhi recorded 20,181 new COVID-19 cases and logged seven deaths on Saturday.
The positivity rate rose to 19.60 per cent, according to data by the Health Department.
Meanwhile, eleven doctors have so far tested Covid positive at Delhi's Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital where five patients infected with the Omicron variant are admitted.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, on Saturday, asserted the situation arising out of healthcare workers getting infected with coronavirus was not alarming.
Dr Suresh Kumar, the medical director of Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, Delhi's largest medical facility, said, "Twenty-six of our staff members have tested positive (for COVID-19) till now. These include 11 doctors and the rest are nursing staff and safai karamcharis."
He also said five patients infected with the Omicron variant are admitted at the facility while 180 people have been discharged.
About the deaths, Dr Kumar said fatalities have occurred among those who were comorbid and were old.
Seven more fatalities were recorded in Delhi on Saturday due to COVID-19 as the city clocked 20,181 infections in a single day, while the positivity rate rose to 19.60 per cent, according to data by the health department.
Earlier in the day, Jain, the city's health minister, said the people who died had comorbidities.
When asked about infection among healthcare workers, he said, "The situation is not alarming. There are more than two lakh healthcare workers. We are well prepared."
"The Delhi government has also trained health assistants and they will be deployed if the need arises. They have been trained in patient care," Jain said.
Approximately 1,000 healthcare workers in Delhi have been infected with coronavirus.
Seven more fatalities were recorded in Delhi on Saturday due to COVID-19 as the city clocked 20,181 infections in a single day, while the positivity rate rose to 19.60 per cent, with Health Minister Satyendar Jain saying the fatalities have been reported among those with comorbidities and the elderly.
The national capital has been seeing an uptick of daily cases in the last few days, mainly triggered by the Omicron variant of the infection.
According to data shared by the health department, 1,586 people are admitted in hospitals, accounting for 11.24 per cent of 14,106 dedicated Covid beds.
Earlier in the day, Jain, however, asserted that the hospitalisation rate is lower than what it was during the second wave of the pandemic when the case numbers were similar.
While asserting that the government is well prepared to handle a high number of cases, he announced that it has been decided to increase 5,650 normal beds, 2,075 ICUs in 14 hospitals along with 2,800 beds in eight Covid care centres.
The health bulletin shared by the government said out of over 1,500 admitted patients in hospitals, 106 are suspected coronavirus patients and 279 patients are in Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Nearly 375 patients are on oxygen support, including 27 on ventilator.
As many as 1,308 patients are from Delhi, it said.
"Around 13,000 beds are available in Delhi hospitals. Very few patients are getting admitted to hospitals and among those there are patients who come for treatment of other illnesses and are detected with the novel coronavirus infection," he said earlier.
On Saturday, the single-day case count crossed the 20,000-mark after May 2.
On May 2, the national capital had reported 407 COVID-19 fatalities and 20,394 cases with a positivity rate of 28.33 per cent.
Delhi had on Friday recorded 17,335 Covid cases, the highest single-day rise since May 8, and nine deaths while the positivity rate mounted to 17.73 per cent.
The tally on Thursday had stood at 15,097 with a positivity rate of 15.34 per cent.
On Wednesday and Tuesday, 10,665 and 5,481 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 11.88 per cent and 8.37 per cent, respectively, according to official figures.
Jain said the fatalities are occurring among those with comorbid conditions.
"Earlier, when Delhi had 17,000 cases, the deaths were more than 200 on a daily basis, but the deaths are lower this time", he said.
The minister also said that the city has not recorded any Omicron death, but stated that all the samples are not being genome sequenced now.
A health department official also affirmed that the analysis so far has revealed that the fatalities are among those who are elderly and immunocompromised.
A total of 1,02,965 tests were conducted the previous day, including 79,946 RT-PCR ones, while the rest were rapid antigen ones.
The health minister also said the number of cases being reported in Delhi are on the higher side due to the large number of tests being conducted on a daily basis.
On being asked whether more restrictions are likely to be announced after the DDMA meeting on Monday, he said, "Delhi has imposed several restrictions. It has closed institutions and implemented odd-even. The restrictions will only be known after the meeting."
He opined that people should follow social-distancing distancing norms, wear masks when stepping out and leave their homes only when needed and these measures are better than a lockdown.
A senior government official also echoed similar views as he said hospital admissions have increased over the past week.
"I had been tracking the daily admissions and discharges in Delhi hospitals during the second wave. I decided to trace for this wave as well. Here are the results. There is a sharp jump in admissions over the last week."
"However, the break-up of the hospitalised patients between mild, moderate and severe gives a better picture. Fortunately, most patients seems to be doing well without oxygen support," tweeted Ankur Garg, Commissioner (Trade and Taxation), Delhi.
Garg also said that till now the share of 'moderate plus severe' patients seems, stable but said these are early days and the data is limited.
"One worry is if the share of moderate plus severe among total patients will increase as the virus seeks more vulnerable populations like the kids and the elderly (who had been staying home and thus better protected).
As of now, with limited data, that share seems stable.
"These are early days and data is yet limited. It is best to err on the side of caution, if to err at all. Please keep wearing masks, practice social distancing and absolutely stop all unnecessary movement," he said in a series of tweets.
The number of active cases stands at 48,178, of which 25,909 are in home isolation.
The number of containment zones has risen to 9,227.
The cumulative number of cases stands at 15,26,979 while the death toll has climbed to 25,143.
In a related development, Delhi Commission For Women chief Swati Maliwal announced on Twitter that she had tested positive for the infection.
Over two lakh adolescents in the age group of 15-18 have been administered the first dose of vaccine against COVID-19 in the national capital, with the northeast district vaccinating the highest number of beneficiaries.
According to official data, there are 10.14 lakh beneficiaries in the 15-18 age group in Delhi.
The Delhi Police intensified patrolling, raised barricades and warned people of legal action as authorities kept up the vigil to check violations of weekend curfew that kicked in Friday night to curb the spread of coronavirus in the city.
The curfew started at 10 pm Friday and will remain in force till Monday 5 am.
Police erected barricades at several places to check vehicles and ensure that no person was moving around unauthorisedly during the curfew period.
"Patrolling has been intensified in view of the weekend curfew," a senior Delhi Police officer said.
Legal action will be taken if anyone violates the COVID-19 curfew orders, he said.
Officials in several districts said that teams will be in the field through the 55-hour curfew period to ensure that the order was not violated and people did not venture out unnecessarily.
"We are prepared to enforce curfew conditions and other coronavirus-related guidelines. People are likely to keep indoors as it has been raining. It will make our task a bit easy," a district official said in the morning.
In view of the surge in coronavirus cases due to the Omicron variant, the Delhi government announced the weekend curfew on Tuesday.
"A weekend curfew has been imposed to minimise the spread of the coronavirus in Delhi. Visit the hospital only if you have severe symptoms. Treatment is possible under home-isolation. Wear a mask and follow all the COVID-related protocols," Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain tweeted Saturday morning.
During the weekend curfew, only those involved in essential services and those facing an emergency situation are allowed to step out of their homes.
Those venturing out will have to produce e-passes issued by the government or valid identity cards.
People can apply for an e-pass for the weekend curfew and the night curfew on weekdays on "http://www.delhi.gov.in."
Officials involved in essential and emergency services are included in exempted category and can move out by showing their identity cards.
People coming from or going to airports, railway stations and inter-state bus terminuses will be allowed on the production of valid tickets.
Pregnant women and patients going to get medical and health services, along with attendants, are exempted on the production of valid identity cards and a doctor's prescription.
During the weekend curfew, only shops dealing in essential items such as groceries, medical equipment, medicines will be allowed to open.
"If anyone has any kind of emergency like going to a hospital etc. will be allowed to move. We request the citizens not to come out of their homes without any reason during the curfew and to follow Covid-appropriate behavior," Delhi Police public relations officer Chnmoy Biswal had said on Friday.