NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the government would provide pulse oximeters to all Covid-19 patients who are in-home quarantine as most patients who have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic often complain of breathing problems because of lack of oxygen.
Pulse oximeters are a noninvasive device used to monitor the level of oxygen carried in the body. “All the people with very mild symptoms or who are asymptomatic are treated at their homes. The only issue with the coronavirus is that the patient may experience a shortage of breath and oxygen level may fall down. The Delhi government will provide oxy-pulse meter to all the patients who are recovering in home isolation,” Kejriwal said.
The announcement comes two days after the Delhi government locked horns with the Centre over its directive to discontinue home isolation treatment and making five-day institutional quarantine mandatory. After opposition from the state government, Lt Gov Anil Baijal withdrew the order.
According to the government, necessary assistance will be given in getting the oximeters. Every district will have a concentrator and a team will carry the concentrator to regulate oxygen levels of patients.
Giving a status update on the Covid situation, Kejriwal said with help from the Centre, the number of tests had increased three times, from 5000 tests a day to 18,000.
Kejriwal also said his administration had worked on a “war footing” to make arrangements for beds in view of the increasing number of coronavirus patients in Delhi. “On 12th June there were 5,300 beds occupied in all the hospitals in Delhi and today 6,200 beds have been occupied, which means that only 900 more beds have been occupied in the last 10 days whereas the number of corona cases went up by 23,000 new cases.”
“This means that the number of new patients admitted in the hospitals for corona is the same as the number of people who are recovering in the hospitals and going back to their homes,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.“While 6,200 beds are occupied today, around 7,000 beds remain vacant,” he added.
Kejriwal strikes nationalistic tune
The AAP convener, meanwhile, said China had brought to wars on Indian citizens, one on the border and the other was the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the country.