NEW DELHI: Amid the rising number of Covid cases in the national capital, the Delhi government has decided to create four step-down isolation centres at Terapanth Bhawan, Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre, Commonwealth Games Village-Akshardham and IBIS Hotel.
Health Minister Satyendra Jain said that the possibility of community spread in Delhi now seems to be increasing and thus the centres are required.
"Corona cases have increased rapidly in the last few days. According to the latest report of genome sequencing, 54% of the cases are of the Omicron variant. This includes both, those who have a travel history and those who do not have travel history," he added.
Step-down isolation centres cater to patients whose health improve after a stay in the hospital for a few days and do not require medical attention of the staff there.
Such patients are looked after by health care workers at these centres. Each isolation centre has a capacity of serving 100 to 500 patients.
Jain said that although Omicron is spreading much faster than the Delta variant, most of the patients are having very subtle symptoms of corona and they do not need to be hospitalised. “None of the hospitalised patients have required oxygen at present and most patients have only minor symptoms. The step-down centres at four locations will act as quarantine facilities for those testing positive,” the minister said.
Jain said the government has decided not to issue a Level 2 alert as for now. Alerts will be issued according to the Graded Response Action Plan in Delhi, he added.
The probability of issuing a Level 2 alert is based on three main factors. If the case positivity rate crosses 1 per cent for two consecutive days, or more than 3,500 cases are reported for seven consecutive days, or 700 oxygen beds are occupied for seven consecutive days.
What is their role
Step-down isolation centres cater to patients whose health improve after a stay in the hospital for a few days and do not require medical attention of the staff there. Each isolation centre has a capacity of serving 100 to 500 patients.