Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal demands 1,000 ICU beds in centre-run hospitals for Covid patients
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reserve an additional 1,000 ICU beds in the central government-run hospitals in the national capital for coronavirus patients. He said that beds should be reserved for Covid patients till the third wave lasts.
Kejriwal told PM Modi that the national capital saw a peak of 8,600 COVID cases on November 10 and that the number of cases and positivity rate is steadily decreasing since. The Chief Minister also expressed hope that this trend will continue in the coming days.
Delhi is witnessing a fresh wave of Covid. As many as 121 people lost their lives in Delhi on Monday due to coronavirus, taking the number of deaths in November alone to 1,950. The overall toll in the national capital is 8,512. Monday's toll was also the second-highest so far in the country's capital. Monday's toll was the sixth time in 12 days that the daily number of deaths crossed the 100-mark in Delhi.
READ MORE: PM Modi interacts with Chief Ministers of states witnessing surge in Covid cases
Kejriwal told PM Modi that the high severity of the third wave of COVID is due to many factors, pollution being an important one. He also sought the Centre's intervention to get rid of pollution caused by stubble-burning in adjoining states.
The Prime Minister on Tuesday interacted via video-conferencing with the Chief Ministers of the states that are witnessing a surge in the number of coronavirus cases to review the pandemic situation. The meeting was attended by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Kerala CM P Vijayan, and Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel.
