COVID-19: Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday held a review meeting to take stock of the situation and said that the AAP government is fully prepared and there is nothing to worry about. On Thursday, Bharadwaj met with Health department officials to take stock of the situation. Speaking to reporters after chairing meeting, Bhardwaj said "there is no need to panic as of now, but we are monitoring the situation."
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, the Chief Minister said the Delhi government is keeping an eye on the spurt in COVID-19 cases in the national capital and is "prepared to face any eventuality”.
"Yesterday, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj held a meeting with health officials and today I held a meeting with them. The Centre identified six states two weeks ago where covid cases were increasing. These states were Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, karnataka and Telangana. Delhi was not among those states. They were given special instructions. In Delhi, there were only 42 cases on March 15. Within 10 days, the number rose to 295 on March 30. We are trying to understand the sudden jump. Currently, there are 932 active cases. We conducted 2,363 tests yesterday. There is no need to worry, yet we are taking all precautions."
Only 3 deaths in last 4-5 days
He further said that only three deaths have been reported over the last four-five days and all the patients have co-morbidities conditions.
“There have been three deaths this year so far and all of them had severe co-morbid conditions. Deaths were likely because of existing conditions and Covid was incidental. But this cannot be ascertained. In one case, a person had a kidney transplant and was in hospital for three months. To say he died of Covid is perhaps not right. But three people who had Covid have also died. Out of these, two were from outside Delhi," the CM said.
The Chief Minister said that the government is conducting genome sequencing of all Covid cases that are being detected.
XBB1.16 predominant variant at present
“We aim to be aware if there is a new variant. The most predominant variant at present is XBB1.16. The most predominant variant at present is XBB1.16. This is present in 48 per cent of cases. The others are also sub-variants of this. This variant has three features. Viral is spreading very quickly, but it is not severe. Hospitalisation and deaths are not very high. But it has evasion to immunisation," he added.
Talking about the availability of bed in the hospital, Kejriwal said all Delhi government hospitals directed to maintain isolation wards for Covid patients and 7,986 beds are set aside for Covid, including oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds. "Of the total 7,986 beds, only 66 are occupied currently,” he added.
He further said that the Delhi have the capacity to conduct 4,000 tests in labs in government labs while the private labs have the capacity to conduct 1 lakh tests.
Kejriwal said that all adults in Delhi are fully vaccinated against Covid and second dose given to almost everyone aged below 18.
“We have sufficient oxygen and storage capacity as well as ambulances,” he added.
COVID testing to be increased
"The infection rate is definitely more than ten per cent but the number of tests is very less. We will increase testing, as the situation demands. Hospitals are advised to test all suspected Covid patients,” he added.
The Health Minister had also informed that Kejriwal will hold a review meeting with the Health department.
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The national capital recorded 295 fresh Covid cases on Thursday with a positivity rate of 12.48 per cent, according to data shared by the Health department. On Wednesday, the city logged 300 cases, the first time since August 31, and two deaths while the positivity rate had jumped to 13.89 per cent.
India reports 3,095 new infections
Meanwhile, India continued to report over 3,000 COVID cases for the second day in a row with 3,095 new infections in the last 24 hours. The country recorded the highest one-day fresh infections in the last nearly six months. The active caseload in the country increased from 13,509 yesterday to 15,208 today which is 0.03 of the total number of cases.
