Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that the COVID-19 situation in Delhi was worrisome as the positivity rate in the past 24 hours had reached 30% from 24.56% the previous day and that there was a shortage of ICU beds and oxygen .
In a digital address, he said that there were less than 100 ICU beds left in Delhi and there was a shortage of oxygen. “We have asked the Central government for help and we are receiving it as well. I have spoken to Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan about the need for more beds in Central government hospitals and oxygen for COVID-19 patients” Mr. Kejriwal said.
There were 10,000 beds in Central government hospitals in the city out of which the Delhi government had requested that at least 7,000 of these be reserved for coronavirus patients from the current 1,800 beds.
“Delhi government on its part is trying to add 6,000 more beds with oxygen over the next 2-3 days. There is a limit as to how many ICU beds we can add but we have seen that most patients need high flow oxygen, and we are making arrangements for this. These beds will be set up at schools, Yamuna Sports Complex, Commonwealth Games Village and at the Radha Soami Satsang Beas facility which we are reopening,” the Chief Minister said.
He thanked Delhiites for observing the weekend curfew and all those NGOs, doctors and social organisations trying to help out at this time. “I hope we can all come together to fight this fourth wave of the virus in Delhi and thank the Central government for its help,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
