Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said both COVID cases as well as the positivity rate were declining steadily across the city but reiterated that citizens should not let their guard down.
He also announced that the Delhi government was setting up oxygen concentrator banks (OCB) to provide oxygen concentrators to patients recovering either under home isolation or who might need oxygen post-recovery.
“Today, even lesser cases of COVID have been recorded in Delhi. In the past 24 hours, 6,500 cases have come up. Yesterday [Friday], we had 8,500 cases. In the last 24 hours, the infection rate has declined even further to 11% while it was 12% yesterday. The virus is reducing in Delhi slowly and steadily however, we are not going to become negligent in any way,” he said in a video message.
“From today, we are going to begin another important service — Oxygen Concentrator Banks. It has been often observed that whenever a person gets infected with the virus, their oxygen levels drop. It is imperative that COVID patients get timely oxygen. For such patients, we have created the oxygen concentrator bank (OCB) and have set up 200 oxygen concentrators in each bank in every revenue district of Delhi,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Delivery in two hours
If patients under home isolation require oxygen, he said, the Delhi government’s team will ensure the oxygen concentrator reaches their home within two hours. A technician will also accompany the team who will explain to the family members how to use the oxygen concentrator. Patients who are not enrolled under the home isolation can call 1031 and avail of the facility.
An Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) to manage COVID on a real-time basis in the city is also being established, Mr. Kejriwal said, adding that the government was in the process of procuring the Sputnik V COVID vaccines for Delhi’s citizens.
“We have contacted Dr. Reddy’s company for the Sputnik vaccine, we have written to them but have not received a complete response as to how many vaccines they can provide. We have asked for 67 lakh Covishield doses and asked them how much and when they can provide us the vaccines,” he also said.
Also, several people in recovery too are advised to take oxygen at home for a few days. For such people too, oxygen concentrators will be provided from the OCBs, he said.
“Our doctors will stay in touch with all those who are being given oxygen concentrators. If the need arises to send them to a hospital, it will be taken care of and when they recover, the oxygen concentrators will be taken back from them, sanitised, and given to another patient for use. OLA Foundation and Give India are helping us deliver oxygen concentrators to every house. We are very grateful for their support. We can overcome this enormous epidemic only if we are together. This is not possible if we are alone,” he also said.
Meanwhile, the ICCC, which will collate real-time data regarding hospitals, ICU beds, availability of oxygen and vaccines is being launched for what “efficient decision-making” related to the pandemic.
COVID information
The data, he said, will be made available to government officers through an application and will be inclusive of information of private hospitals as well as COVID care centres.
“A variety of COVID-related data across the city will be collected on a real-time basis. What I mean by real-time basis is that it will capture whatever is happening at this point in time. This will be made more robust as and when we collect more and more data,” he said.
