NEW DELHI: The AAP government has urged Lt Governor Anil Baijal to scrap the system requiring every COVID-19 patient to visit a government-run centre for clinical assessment, as the number of cases rose to 66,602 in the national capital on Tuesday with a highest single-day spike of 3,947.
A 10,000-bed COVID-19 facility at the premises of Radha Saomi Satsang Beas in south Delhi to be operated by the ITBP will be functional by June 26, Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal after he asked for doctors and nurses from the ITBP and the Army to run the centre.
Delhi had on Monday overtaken Tamil Nadu as the second worst-hit among the state and union territories.
With 68 fresh cases, the death toll has now reached 2,301.
Sources said the chief minister has also invited Shah to visit the upcoming facility on the sprawling campus of spiritual organisation RSSB.
In a series of tweets, Shah said a 1,000-bed full-fledged hospital with 250 ICU beds is being developed for COVID-19 patients and the facility, to be manned by armed forces personnel, will be ready in the next 10 days.
"Dear Kejriwal ji, It has already been decided in our meeting 3 days back and MHA has assigned the work of operating the 10,000 bed COVID Care Centre at Radha Swami Beas in Delhi to ITBP.
The work is in full swing and a large part of the facility will be operational by 26th Jun," he said.
Sources said the ITBP, which has established a 1,000-bed quarantine at its camp in Chhawla, has been appointed as the nodal the agency for the RSSB.
Responding to Shah's tweets, Kejriwal thanked him for helping the AAP government and Delhiites in these difficult circumstances.
"The country's Army, doctors, social organisations, central government and Delhi government - all are working unitedly for Delhi."
"I am sure that we all will beat Corona together. Thank you for helping the Delhi government and the people of Delhi in these difficult circumstances," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
Shah also said the armed forces personnel have been detailed for providing medical care and attention to COVID-19 patients housed in railway coaches in Delhi.
A total of 8,000 additional beds have already been placed at Delhi government's disposal for making COVID care centres, as per requirement, Shah said.
Delhi would need 1.5 lakh beds in healthcare facilities by July 31 once people start coming to the city for treatment from other states, Kejriwal had said, adding that his government had "unprecedented challenges" ahead as data showed that COVID-19 cases would rapidly increase in Delhi in the coming days.
Last week, Baijal had issued an order, making it mandatory for every new COVID-19 patient to undergo five-day institutional quarantine.
It was later amended after opposition from the AAP government.
Every coronavirus patient is now required to visit a care centre for clinical assessment to ascertain whether he requires hospitalisation or home isolation.
Kejriwal's deputy Manish Sisodia said he has written to the LG, saying that the new system will only create problems for the patients and add pressure on the government machinery as an infected person will have to wait in long queues at these centres.
"Why should one go to quarantine centre for checkup? Has he made any mistake? At a time when the government should help him, we are giving him punishment of standing in long queues," Sisodia said during an online media briefing.
The deputy chief minister demanded that the previous system be implemented wherein medical teams of the district administration visited the house of an infected person for his or her clinical assessment.
He said that the national capital has been reporting nearly 3,000 cases every day and it is not feasible for every COVID-19 patient to undergo clinical assessment at COVID quarantine centres.
Sisodia said that the lieutenant governor should call a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority and revert to the old system.
Meanwhile, after getting a fresh nod from the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), six COVID-19 patients have received convalescent plasma therapy at LNJP Hospital in the last one week, out of the total permitted limit of 200 recipients.
Plasma therapy on a trial basis was permitted by the ICMR recently but then it had put it on hold.
After the fresh nod from the ICMR last week, LNJP Hospital and Max Hospital, Saket have done plasma therapy on coronavirus patients.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, 55, was on Saturday administered plasma therapy at Max Hospital, where he is admitted for COVID-19 treatment.
"Earlier, 20 recipients were administered the therapy before the ICMR halted it. With fresh nod in place, now, we have received permission for 200 patients. And, for the last one week we have already done it on six patients out of the 13 immediately scheduled," Dr Suresh Kumar, Medical Director of the LNJP, told PTI.
Both LNJP Hospital and Max Hospital are dedicated COVID-19 facilities.
Delhi's tally of COVID-19 cases crossed the 66,000-mark on Tuesday with the biggest single-day jump of 3,947 fresh infections, while the death toll due to the disease mounted to 2,301, authorities said.
From Friday to Sunday, 3,000 or more fresh cases were reported per day in the national capital.
On Monday, 2,909 cases were recorded.
Lt Governor Anil Baijal has designated senior IAS officer Bhupinder Singh Bhalla as Principal Secretary (Home) who will also work as a nodal officer for "overall management of COVID-19" in the Delhi government, an official order said.
The move assumes significance as Bhalla's appointment comes at a time when the Centre is overseeing measures taken to deal with the COVID-19 situation in the city which has been witnessing an alarming spike in cases.
He was transferred by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Delhi government on June 17.
The 1990-batch IAS officer will have the responsibility of implementing decisions and orders issued by the Centre and the Delhi government to arrest the spread of COVID-19 in the national capital.
According to the LG's order issued on Monday, Bhalla would exercise "required supervision in all the matters related to the prevention and management of COVID-19" in the Delhi government.
On Tuesday, Delhi's tally of COVID-19 cases crossed the 66,000-mark with the biggest single-day jump of 3,947 fresh infections, while the death toll due to the disease mounted to 2,301.
From Friday to Sunday, 3,000 or more fresh cases were reported per day in the national capital.
On Monday, 2,909 cases were recorded.