A health worker speaks to the relative of a COVID-19 victim before cremation, in New Delhi, November 13, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui.
New Delhi: Even as another 96 people died of COVID-19 in Delhi in the past 24 hours (until Sunday night), taking the national capital’s overall toll to 7,519, the Centre has decided to increase testing for the novel coronavirus and the availability of ICU beds and doctors for the city’s patients.
Delhi is currently in the grip of a ‘third wave’ of the local COVID-19 epidemic. To respond to this, Union home minister Amit Shah convened high-level meeting on Sunday to discuss ways to arrest the virus’s spread. The meeting was attended by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and health minister Satyendar Jain, among others.
After the meeting, Kejriwal said the Delhi government had raised the issue of shortage of ICU beds and that the minister had decided that 500 more beds would be provided immediately at the DRDO COVID-19 Centre while another 250 would be added soon. And for people with mild to low symptoms of the coronavirus disease, more health centres are expected to be converted into COVID-19 centres, he added.
Further, according to Kejriwal, the Centre would increase the supply of ventilators and push up the number of daily tests for COVID-19 from around 60,000 per day to around 1-1.25 lakh. He said the Indian Council for Medical Research has assured its assistance.
This apart, Shah has also decided to increase the overall availability of beds at the 10,500-bed COVID centre set up at Radha Saomi Satsang Beas Centre in Chhattarpur, and to increase the number of beds with oxygen supply in all hospitals across the capital.
As for Delhi’s paucity of doctors – partly as a result of many healthcare workers getting COVID-19 because of their high-risk working conditions – the home ministry has resolved to re-designate doctors from the central paramilitary forces.
At the meeting convened by Hon’ble HM Sh @AmitShah Ji to review the worrying trajectory of #COVID19 situation in Delhi, it was decided that immediate remedial steps must be taken
Delhi has witnessed a huge surge in daily active cases which is likely to worsen over next few weeks pic.twitter.com/EieUWZWsSZ
— Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) November 15, 2020
Finally, the meeting also concluded with a decision to not complement these reinforcements with any restrictions on mobility or any kind of lockdowns on public and economic activities. As it happens, all of the city’s commercial centres, wholesale and retail markets are open in Delhi, and high demand for consumer goods during the festive season had prompted the need for a lockdown in some quarters.
Delhi has also been struggling to breathe with the typical air pollution during the winter, fed by point sources within the city, seasonal wind patterns and significantly more farm fires in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Many doctors have already cautioned that the rise in air pollution and the low – and dropping – ambient temperature could prove deadly for people with respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19.
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The air was also polluted by the widespread use of firecrackers during the Diwali weekend – despite both the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal having banned the activity. Local reports indicated blooms of grey-black smoke rising up over various parts of the city due to a cracker-bursting spree from dusk on Saturday.
Fortunately, on Sunday evening, there was rain and hail over some parts of the city that tamped down some of the lingering pollution and provided some respite to residents.