NEW DELHI: Citing recent spurt in cases of COVID-19, the Delhi Government has issued an advisory asking hospitals to resume the pandemic preparedness protocols including proper availability of beds, oxygen, essential drugs and daily testing of influenza cases among others.
The advisory comes as Delhi reported 23 cases till Thursday, said Health Minister Pankaj Singh confirming that all patients are in stable condition.
“Two to three patients are admitted to private hospitals while the others are being monitored. There is no need to panic because the strain is similar to influenza,” he said.
The government is currently in the process of verifying the details of the cases to determine whether the patients are residents of Delhi or have traveled from outside the city.
Singh urged calm and assured there is no panic situation currently. "The Delhi government is fully prepared to deal with any situation. We have already coordinated with all medical superintendents, doctors, and their teams across hospitals in the capital,” he said.
In terms of preparedness, hospitals and healthcare facilities have been placed on alert through the advisory.
To ensure preparedness, refresher training sessions for dedicated healthcare staff may soon be conducted.
Health authorities have mandated the daily reporting of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases from all OPD and IPD units on the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP), along with confirmed influenza and COVID-19.
Similarly, daily updates are to be submitted on the Delhi State Health Data Management Portal.
In line with ICMR guidelines, COVID-19 testing protocols are being reinforced, with a directive to test 5 per cent of ILI cases and 100 per cent of SARI cases. Positive samples are to be sent to Lok Nayak Hospital for Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) to aid in the early identification of any emerging variants, with reporting to the State Surveillance Unit.