Centre assures 750 ICU beds for Covid patients, daily testing to be hiked to 1 Lakh in Delhi

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that the Centre has assured to provide 750 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds for Covid-19 patients at the Defence Research and Development (DRDO) centre here.

Kejriwal also said that the number of coronavirus tests in the national capital will be increased to over one lakh per day. The chief minister’s remarks followed after he attended a meeting convened by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take stock of the rising Covid-19 cases in Delhi. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain were also present at the meeting held at North Block.

Review of all previously established containment measures like marking of containment zones, contact tracing, quarantine and screening in Delhi. Addl doctors from CAPFs & paramedical staff to be airlifted to Delhi, in view of shortage of health care workers here: HM Amit Shah https://t.co/s5M8bcHUSG

— ANI (@ANI) November 15, 2020

“A meeting was held at MHA over rising COVID-19 cases in Delhi. It is very important that every agency works together to deal with the situation. I thank the Central government and the Home Minister. All agencies will together,” Kejriwal told media persons here.

“The big problem now is related to ICU beds. We have seen that after October 20, coronavirus cases have begun to surge rapidly. Covid-19 beds are available. But ICU beds are exhausted quickly. The Central government has given assurance that 500 ICU beds will be made available at DRDO centre and 250 more beds in the coming time. We are also increasing ICU beds at Delhi government facilities,” he said.

Dedicated multi-department teams to visit all private hospitals in Delhi for inspection of availability of COVID19 medical infrastructure, admission of patients and availability of beds: Home Minister Amit Shah on decisions following review meeting on COVID19 situation in Delhi pic.twitter.com/fpMLyF79Cj

— ANI (@ANI) November 15, 2020

“Around 60,000 tests are being conducted daily. We have to increase it to over 1 lakh tests. ICMR has assured to help. All facilities of the Delhi government are functioning at its full capacity,” he said.

Shah and Kejriwal have met at least twice in the last few months to discuss the coronavirus situation in the national capital and the home minister had also intervened when Delhi witnessed its first spike in cases.

More oxygen cylinders, High Flow Nasal Cannula and other necessary equipments to be made available to Delhi Government by the Central Government: Home Minister Amit Shah on COVID19 review meeting https://t.co/o8D9ZHQExo

— ANI (@ANI) November 15, 2020

On account of the winter season and the large influx of patients from festival gatherings, Delhi could experience about 15,000 cases in a day soon, as per the report by the National Centre for Disease Control submitted to Delhi Government last month.

“It is recommended that Delhi should prepare for a daily surge of about 15,000 positive cases and make arrangements for inpatient admissions of patients and moderate and severe disease roughly amounting to 20 percent of this surge,” the report said.

Moreover, Delhi’s daily COVID chart had started its upward climb a few days ago. While it crossed the 7,000 mark on November 6, it crossed the 8,000-mark, registering 8,593 cases, which was an all-time high for the city on November 11.