Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has called an all-party meeting today to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the national capital, which has been seeing a spurt in the number of cases in the last couple of weeks, officials said on Wednesday.
They said leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), BJP, Congress, and other parties have been invited for the meeting.
“The chief minister will hold an all-party meeting to discuss the Covid-19 situation in Delhi. The meeting will be held at 11 am on Thursday,” an official said.
The national capital has been witnessing a spurt in coronavirus cases since October 28 when daily cases breached the 5,000-mark for the first time.
The single-day rise in cases crossed the 8,000-mark on November 11.
Delhi recorded 7,486 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the infection tally in the city to over 5 lakh, while 131 new fatalities, the highest single-day count to date, pushed the number of deaths to 7,943, authorities said.
Railways providing coaches with 800 beds to Delhi for Covid-19 treatment: MHA
As many as 45 doctors and 160 paramedics of the paramilitary forces have arrived in Delhi for deployment on Covid-19 duties while the Railways will make available coaches with 800 beds at a station here to be used as COVID care-cum-isolation facilities, the MHA said on Wednesday.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) also said that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is going to add 250 additional ICU beds to the existing 250 ICU beds in addition to creating 35 BIPAP beds in the next 3 to 4 days at its Covid-19 hospital near the Delhi airport.
The actions come in the wake of 12 decisions taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday.
Forty-five doctors and 160 paramedics from paramilitary forces have arrived in Delhi for deployment at DRDO hospital near Delhi airport and at a Covid care center at Chhatarpur, a home ministry spokesperson said.
The remaining doctors and medics will reach Delhi in the next few days, the official said.
The home ministry has constituted 10 multi-disciplinary teams to visit more than 100 private hospitals in Delhi for assessing bed utilization and testing capacity and to identify extra ICU beds.
Visits by the teams are underway, the official said.
The Indian Railways is making available coaches with 800 beds at Shakur Basti railway station while doctors and para-medics from paramilitary forces will man the coaches which will act as Covid care-cum-isolation facilities.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Delhi government are working together to enhance RT-PCR testing capacity to 60,000 tests by end of November, the official said.
Testing capacity has already been enhanced by 10,000 tests per day on November 17, the spokesperson said.
The planning for a house to house survey in Delhi is in the advanced stage.
The survey is expected to begin by the end of the week and completed by November 25, the official said.
According to the spokesperson, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has dispatched 250 ventilators from Bengaluru and they are expected to reach Delhi by the end of the week.
The Union health ministry has delivered 35 BIPAP machines to the DRDO COVID facility near the Delhi airport, the official said.
To bring testing closer to Delhi residents, the ICMR will help the Delhi government in deploying 10 mobile testing laboratories with a total capacity of 20,000 tests in a phased manner beginning next week, the spokesperson said.
