Hospital occupancy a worry as COVID-19 cases surge in capital

The case spiral began last week, and since then the Arvind Kejriwal government has pointed out the occupancy of beds by ‘outsiders’.
A quarantine centre in New Delhi. (File Photo | Parveen Negi, EPS)
A quarantine centre in New Delhi. (File Photo | Parveen Negi, EPS)

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government is worried over a resurge in coronavirus cases, even though it has dismissed the idea of this being a second wave of the infection. Government sources said though 70 per cent of the total beds available are vacant, the cases are shooting up at a fast pace: 2,914 cases were registered in a single day with 13 fatalities. 

Such a high number of positive cases were last reported in July.

The latest health bulletin said of the 14,159 beds available in all the 131 Covid hospitals, 4,730 are occupied. 

Similarly, of the 10,143 beds arranged at Covid Care Centres (CCCs), 984 are occupied while 392 beds out of 601 are occupied in different Covid health centres.

According to officials, 70 per cent of the ICU beds in top private hospitals are occupied. What has caused worry is the fact that ICU beds are not as easy to create as in the case with CCCs and other such facilities. 

The case spiral began last week, and since then the Kejriwal government has pointed out the occupancy of beds by ‘outsiders’.

Health Minister Satyendar Jain had earlier claimed around 30 per cent of beds available are occupied by non-Delhiites. Kejriwal had earlier sealed the Delhi borders for a week and ordered reservation of beds only for Delhi residents, which was later overturned by L-G Anil Baijal. 

Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday held a review meeting with medical superintendents and took stock of the status of testing.

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