Delhi L-G forms committee to manage COVID-19 apathy; ICMR, AIIMS and NCDC heads named

A day after the Supreme Court pulled up Delhi government for mismanagement in tackling the Coronavirus outbreak in the national capital, L-G Anil Baijal has appointed a committee to bolster the preparedness. Issuing a notice on Saturday evening, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority stated that the L-G has constituted a committee to make recommendations on a different aspect of management of COVID-19 epidemic. It also stated that the committee will help the DDMA in formulating a practical approach to effectively deal with the crisis. Notably, the committee consists of members from All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The committee consist of the following members:

• Member of NDMA - Krishna Vatsa 
• Member of NDMA - Kamal Kishore 
• DG-ICMR - Balram Bhargava
• Director of AIIMS - Dr Randeep Guleria 
• Additional DDG (DGHS) - Dr Ravindran 
• Director of NCDC - Dr Sujit Kumar Singh

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The step comes a day after the apex court observed that “really pained” to see the way COVID-19 patients are being treated at Delhi government hospitals, and how they are handling the dead bodies. It also added that Delhi is was the only state/ UT in the country that had decreased the number of tests daily as compared to all the other states.

Moreover, Delhi HC ordered private hospitals in the national capital that have reserved 20% beds for admitting COVID-19 patients and have ICMR-accredited labs to start conducting novel coronavirus tests on symptomatic or asymptomatic patients seeking admission in the hospital. The Delhi HC also said that more cremation infrastructure is urgently needed in the national capital.

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Delhi govt on SC observation

Even as Delhi's health minister said that lockdown will not be extended despite rising cases, Delhi government after SC's observation responded by saying that it accepts tSC with utmost respect and sincerity and that it is trying its best to set up better infrastructure and provide quality healthcare to all COVID-19 patients. 

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Delhi's Covid tally 

The national capital on Friday, saw 2137 new Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases and 71 deaths. Delhi's audit committee also audited 58 deaths from previous deaths, taking its total deaths to 1214 and its total positive cases to 36,824 cases. The capital has also seen 667 new recoveries, taking its recovered case tally to 13,398.

As per the state's health bulletin, Delhi has 9558 COVID-19 beds of which 4197 are vacant. It also has 598 ventilators of which 253 are vacant, 344 beds at COVID health centres, of which 183 are vacant and 5974 beds at COVID care centre of which 4466 are vacant. As per the ‘Delhi Corona’ app, nearly 70% of beds are vacant in state government hospitals, while almost all beds at several big private hospitals are shown to be occupied. Experts attribute it to people's aversion towards state-run facilities.

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