New Delhi : There is no need to panic as the national capital does not have a single case of the COVID-19 Omicron sub-variant BF.7, said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday. He also highlighted that the government is fully geared up to tackle any situation.
He said, “Right now we have 8,000 beds allotted for Corona; in the previous peak there were 25000 beds, now we have prepared for 36000 beds. At present we have 6,000 reserve oxygen cylinders and 15 oxygen tankers as well as a capacity to store 928 metric tonnes of oxygen. In Delhi, almost 100 percent people have got the first and second dose, but only 24 percent people have got their precaution dose. With folded hands, I request all the people of Delhi to get their precaution dose administered as soon as they can.”
Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said the dominant sub-variant in Delhi is XBB that has been detected in 92 per cent of the samples till now. Kejriwal had convened a meeting at his residence on the Covid situation amid a surge in cases in many countries.
At the moment, 2,500 tests are being conducted and these can be increased to one lakh if there is a surge in Covid cases. “We have 8,000 beds ready for Covid patients. At the time its peak, we had readied 25,000 beds but the bed capacity can be increased to 36,000.
“The government has also widened the scope of testing and those with SARS and breathing issues are being compulsorily tested using the RT-PCR method,” he added.
He said only 24 per cent of the eligible population have taken the precaution dose and urged people to get the jab. The new variant BF.7 of the novel coronavirus, which is believed to be linked to the surge in Covid cases in some countries, has been detected in some parts of the country. Asked whether there are plans to bring back the mask mandate, he said they are awaiting Centre’s directions.
He added, “One of the main problems during the pandemic last year was the availability of oxygen.. This time we have ramped it up and we can store up to 928 metric tons of oxygen. Another key issue faced the last time around was the lack of oxygen cylinders. People were running around with patients looking for a cylinder last year. Apart from all the cylinders that are available in our government hospitals we also have a reserve of 6000 cylinders. This time around the Delhi government has 12 tankers and there are another 3 private tankers that we can use if the need arises, so we have 15 tankers to transport oxygen.”
Delhi has a total of 8,211 COVID beds, of these 3,416 beds are under Delhi Government’s hospitals, 1,729 in Central Government’s hospitals, and 3,066 Private Hospitals. Further, there are 7,766 Oxygenated COVID Beds, of which 3,316 are in Delhi Government’s hospitals, 1,705 in Central Government’s Hospitals, and 2745 in Private Hospitals. There are a total of 1,909 ICU Beds in Delhi, 1045 under Delhi Government, 202 under Central Government and 662 under Private Hospitals, 1,100 of these beds have ventilator facilities. The Delhi Government further has the capacity to expand the number of beds, if at all needed.
