New Delhi (NVI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said that the city was running out of beds, oxygen and the life-saving drug Remdesivir as it recorded an unprecedented 24,000 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours.
Addressing a press conference here, he said, this is the highest single-day cases in the national capital. Delhi had reported 19,486 new cases and 141 deaths yesterday.
“Delhi has a limited number of ICU beds and oxygen and ICU beds are decreasing very sharply but the government will take necessary steps to prevent spread of the virus,” he added.
The chief minister said he has spoken to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan for increasing availability of beds and increasing oxygen supply.
“I hope that we add 6,000 beds in two or three days. No one knows when the peak will come. The central government gave 4,100 beds in November but this time only 1,800 beds have been given. I requested Dr Harsh Vardhan to reserve 50 per cent beds for COVID-19 patients,” he added.
Kejriwal further said that strict action will be taken against those labs who are collecting more samples than their capacity.
Kejriwal also said that District Magistrate have also been asked to check whether these labs have finished their pending samples before they collect new ones.
“We are receiving complaints that some labs are taking 2/3 days to give COVID-19 reports to patients. The reason is that these labs are taking more samples than their capacity. Strict action will be taken against such labs that will not give report within 24 hrs,” he said.
“We have also asked DMs to check whether these labs have finished their pending samples before they collect other ones,” he added.
–PRT
