Delhi witnessed a record number of new COVID-19 cases for the third consecutive day with 13,468 infections being reported over 24 hours, according to a health bulletin released by the Delhi government on Tuesday. The total number of cases stood at 7,50,156.
Eighty-one deaths were reported over 24 hours, pushing the toll to 11,436. A total of 1,02,460 tests were conducted in a day, the bulletin said. Of the total cases, 6,95,210 people have recove-red and there are 43,510 active cases. The positivity rate of COVID-19 cases jumped to 13.14% on Tuesday. Of the total 12,667 beds for COVID-19 treatment in the city, 61.03% were occupied.
The Delhi government has constituted 24x7 cells in 11 government hospitals and headquarters to ensure that appropriate systems are in place in each hospital for timely management of admissions, proper treatment, patient care and analysis of COVID-19 deaths, according to an official order issued on Tuesday.
A total of 89,065 beneficiaries took the COVID-19 vaccination over 24 hours, said the bulletin.
After a government order on Monday to convert 14 private hospitals into dedicated COVID-19 facilities, many hospitals said some beds should be kept for non-COVID-19 treatment as many of them are super speciality facilities.
Hospitals’ request
The chairman of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr. D.S. Rana, said he met Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday and requested him to allow non-COVID emergency patients at the hospital. “We have promised the Minister to provide 500 beds for COVID treatment. Even last year, only 300 of the 508 COVID-19 beds at the hospital were occupied, even when the admission was at the maximum,” Dr. Rana said.
Dr. Suranjit Chatterjee, senior consultant at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, also said part of the beds in the hospital should be kept for non-COVID treatment. “We are a super speciality hospital and have non-COVID patients who have cancer, heart ailments etc. We need to treat COVID-19 patients for sure, but we have to take care of non-COVID patients too,” he said.
