Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday called a cabinet meeting as COVID-19 cases continue to rise exponentially in the national capital. Hrealth Minister Satyender Jain will also be present in the meeting.
Meanwhile, Kejriwal on Saturday said he has apprised the Union Health Minister about the shortage of beds and oxygen as the pandemic rages through the country.
I spoke to Union Health Minister and told him that there is now a huge shortage of beds, oxygen, Remdesivir, and Tocilizumab, which must be made available by the Central government for adequate treatment of Covid-19 patients,” Kejriwal said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister also pointed about shortage of beds for Covid-19 patients in two main Central government-run hospitals – AIIMS and Safdarjung hospitals. “In AIIMS, there are a total 11,62 beds of which only 23 have been reserved for the Covid patients while Safdarjung hospital has around 2,900 beds out of which only 204 have been reserved for Covid patients,” Kejriwal claimed.
He said, “I requested the Union Health Minister to reserve at least 50 per cent beds for Covid patients. Similarly, ICU beds should also be provided.”
With 24,375 new cases, the number of cumulative positive cases in Delhi reached 8,97,998, including 7,46,239 who have recovered from the disease.
The test positivity rate in the national capital stood at an alarming 24.56 per cent, while the death toll zoomed to 11,960 till Saturday evening.
Delhi has been reporting an exponential surge in the number of Covid-19 cases for the past few weeks, reporting over 10,000 new cases a day for a week now.
(With IANS inputs)