Coronavirus in Delhi: COVID-19 cases to be controlled in up to 10 days, says Arvind Kejriwal

As the Coronavirus situation worsens in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that the state government is working to tackle the third wave of COVID-19 cases and in the next 7-10 days, the situation should come under control. Kejriwal said that the government is taking all necessary measures. The statement has come after the daily count of positive cases spiked significantly taking it beyond 7,000-mark whereas the death toll has also increased. For more than four-five days, the national capital has seen more than 70 fatalities per day.

According to a report by The Indian Express, Kejriwal has written a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan where he discussed the increasing number COVID-19 cases and sought help from the central government. Two days ago, Delhi CM highlighted that in a study conducted by the state government and health experts that Delhi may record up to 12,000 cases in a day (an anticipation of worst case scenario). For this, the Union government has been requested to help Delhi.

Delhi will also be needing a bed capacity of more than 20,000 beds for Coronavirus patients by December. Kejriwal in his letter noted that 1,092 beds are required including 300 ICU beds. It has been projected that both centre and state hospitals in Delhi need to ramp up their capacity to manage more Coronavirus patients.

Highlighting the spike in Covid-19 related deaths, the Delhi government has also asked all testing centres to check oxygen saturation levels of all people who are getting themselves tested for Coronavirus. The oxygen saturation level check has been mandated and anyone with oxygen saturation level below 94 per cent has been directed to get examined by a doctor. The order will be implemented with immediate effect as many cases with COVID-19 progression to either moderate or severe categories have surfaced.

According to the order, the oxygen saturation levels can indicate any risk and will help in early identification of cases that are prone to developing complications or progressions. This is expected to reduce complications or deaths. The oxygen levels will be recorded on the OPD slip of all patients who are going to Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) and RT-PCR centres.