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New Delhi, August 10, 2021:
Health Minister Shri Satyendar Jain on Tuesday said that the Delhi government is prepared to battle against the next possible corona wave and has doubled the number of ICU beds since the last wave. A graded response system has been started out by the government to take decisions at the right time against the next possible corona wave. He also informed that the Central Government still hasn’t asked for the data regarding the deaths due to lack of oxygen and the next Sero survey will start soon in Delhi.
Shri Satyendar Jain said, “Yesterday, Delhi had 39 COVID positive cases, leading to a positivity rate of 0.08%, which means that out of every 1000 people tested, less than 1 person is corona positive. The positivity rate has also remained at 1% or lesser since the past one month. But that hasn’t slowed down the preparations being done by the Delhi government for the next possible corona wave.”
While commenting about the reports, the Delhi Health Minister said that, “In the reports done during the second wave in Delhi, we could see that more than 80% of the samples showed the presence of the Delta variant. The genome sequencing of the samples during the second wave and post the second wave have also been done; the results of both show that about 80% of the sample population was infected by the Delta variant of the virus.”
He also added, “Since the Delta variant originated in India, we have already faced the wrath of this variant during the second wave. The other countries need to prepare themselves now as the variant is spreading there. Delhi has already battled and overcome the Delta variant wave. All the reports of Delhi have also been sent to ICMR and they also pointed out that Delhi was battling with the Delta variant during the second wave. Therefore, I don’t think that the Delta variant should be a cause of concern anymore for us anymore as the entire second wave was of the Delta variant.”
Talking about the steps being taken by the Delhi Government for preparing against the next possible wave, Shri Satyendar Jain said, “In order to prepare for any such new wave of the virus, the Delhi Government is preparing 37,000 beds out of which, 12,000 are ICU beds. In the last wave, the Delhi government had prepared 22,000-23,000 beds out of which 6,000 were ICU beds; this time around we have doubled the number of the ICU beds and have added more beds overall as well. Along with this, the Delhi government has also started a ‘Graded Response System’. In this system, when the positivity rate reaches to a 0.5% or out of 1000 people tested 5 are positive, then the first level of this system will be implemented. The second level will be implemented when we will reach a positivity rate of 1%, meaning that 10 people test positive out of 1000 people tested, the third level will be implemented at a positivity rate of 2%, when 20 people test positive out of a testing sample of 1000 people and the last stage or the red level will be underway when we reach a positivity rate of 5%, meaning that 50 people test positive out of the 1000 people tested. Last time, the red level was implemented when we had reached a positivity rate of about 14-15%.”
The Health Minister also added, “While we are also preparing Delhi in respect to our children and their health, the overall percentage of children who need hospitalisation is very less in comparison to the adult population in the case of this pandemic.”
“The central government still hasn’t demanded any kind of data from us regarding the deaths caused by lack of oxygen in the capital. The Sero survey will also be conducted in the capital soon,” he said
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