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CM issues appeal for beds as 1 in 3 samples in Delhi is positiveBy Hindustan Times

Delhi on Sunday reported 25,462 Covid-19 cases, with about one in three samples testing positive, as chief minister Arvind Kejriwal made an urgent appeal to the Centre for more hospital beds to tackle the public health crisis, adding that the shortage of oxygen supply in the Capital was now an “emergency”.

Delhi is the middle of its fourth Covid-19 wave, the worst to hit the national capital so far. On Sunday, the positivity rate was 29.74%, with 161 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours.

Fewer than 100 intensive care unit beds were available in the city of more than 20 million people, Kejriwal said, with widespread complaints about the lack of beds, oxygen cylinders and crucial drugs.

“The bigger worry is that in last 24 hours positivity rate has increased to around 30% from 24% ... The cases are rising very rapidly. The beds are filling fast,” Kejriwal told a digital news briefing.

The test positivity rate – a ratio of the number of positive cases to total tests conducted, and a measure of the scale of an outbreak in the region – shot up from 0.59% over a month ago, to 29.74% on Sunday.

In a separate statement, the Delhi government said it informed the Centre about “the dire need of beds and oxygen” and beds were now being set up in schools.

Kejriwal said Delhi was facing an “acute shortage” of oxygen for Covid-19 patients and added that the quota of the city was diverted to other states. The remarks came hours after he wrote the letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Del facing acute shortage of oxygen. In view of sharply increasing cases, Del needs much more than normal supply. Rather than increasing supply, our normal supply has been sharply reduced and Delhi’s quota has been diverted to other states. OXYGEN HAS BECOME AN EMERGENCY IN DEL,” the chief minister tweeted on Sunday evening. He also wrote a letter to Union commerce and industries minister Piyush Goyal in this regard.

The Union minister told ANI: “State governments should keep demand (for medical oxygen) under control. Demand-side management is as important as supply-side management. Containing Covid-19 spread is the responsibility of state governments and they should fulfil this responsibility.”

Delhi, which has imposed a weekend curfew, is among the worst hit cities in India. The weekend curfew comes on top of 10pm-5am night curfew restrictions that are in place until April 30.

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Chief minister Kejriwal and lieutenant governor Anil Baijal will hold a meeting with senior government officers on Monday over the Covid-19 situation in the national capital.

Nationwide, India reported 275,482 new cases on Sunday, taking the total number of cases past 15 million, second only to the US, which has reported more than 31 million infections. The country’s deaths from Covid-19 rose by a 1,622 to reach a total of 178,814.

At the briefing, Kejriwal said he urged Union home minister Amit Shah to increase the number of Covid-19 beds in central government hospitals and help with oxygen supply. “In the last 24 hours, Delhi recorded around 25,500 new cases, up from around 24,000 the previous day and 19,500 new cases the day before that,” he said.

“Cases are increasing at a fast rate and Covid-19 beds are getting occupied across the city. People are getting admitted in hospitals at an unprecedented rate. There is a major crisis of ICU beds. There are less than 100 ICU beds left in Delhi. We are facing a major shortage of oxygen, too. Last night, a private hospital told us that they almost ran into a disaster situation with a major shortage of oxygen supply,” the CM added.

“We are constantly in touch with the central government. We are getting a lot of help from them. We thank them for that. Yesterday (Saturday), I spoke with Union health minister Harsh Vardhan. He was informed about the situation. Today, I spoke to Union home minister Amit Shah over phone. I have told him that we need more beds. In Delhi, the central government hospitals collectively have around 10,000 beds, of which around 1,800 are currently reserved for Covid-19 patients. I have requested him (Shah) to reserve at least 7,000 beds for Covid-19. The situation in Delhi is deteriorating every second. I also requested that oxygen supply be provided to us immediately,” said Kejriwal.

He added that the Delhi government will be adding more than 6,000 additional Covid-19 beds with oxygen facilities in two-three days in locations that include health facilities set up at Yamuna Sports Complex, CWG village and premises of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. “We don’t know how many ICU beds we will be able to increase in such a short time. There are limitations. But we have seen that most patients primarily need high-flow oxygen. So, we are arranging more high-flow oxygen systems so that more beds can be converted into oxygen beds,” he said.

In his letter to the PM, Kejriwal wrote: “The Covid-19 situation in Delhi is extremely serious. There is a severe shortage of Covid-19 beds and oxygen supply. At our level we are doing everything that is possible. We need your help.”

As per the Delhi health department, 25,462 Covid-19 cases and 161 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total active cases in Delhi to 74,941. The total positive cases in the city now stand at 853,460,, including 766,398 recoveries and 12,121 deaths.

As many as 85,620 samples were tested for the virus, including 56,015 RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TrueNath tests and 29,605 rapid antigen tests.

In the last 24 hours, 67,448 beneficiaries were vaccinated against the coronavirus. Around 54,306 received the first dose, while 13,142 received the second dose.

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