321 ICU, oxygenated beds added in Delhi this week to deal with rising COVID-19 cases: MHA officials

As part of efforts to ramp up Delhi's medical infrastructure to deal with rising coronavirus cases, a total of 205 ICU beds and 116 oxygenated beds were added in various hospitals in the national capital this week, Union Home Ministry officials said on Friday.

As many as 120 ventilators have also arrived from Bharat Electronics Limited in Bangalore to be given to various hospitals, while authorities have enhanced the capacity of daily RT-PCR tests in Delhi to 37,200.

Since November 16, additional 205 ICU beds have been added in hospitals belonging to the central and Delhi governments and private facilities, an official of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.

Altogether 116 oxygenated beds were also added.

Following an advisory, the Uttar Pradesh government has also directed survey of all private hospitals situated in NCR districts like Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida) and Ghaziabad to know their capacity and the facilities they are offering to COVID-19 patients, the official said.

The Delhi government has also launched a door-to-door survey to detect possible coronavirus patients.

On Thursday, a total of 30,735 RT-PCR tests were conducted in Delhi and the number of RT-PCR tests carried out on November 15 was just 12,055.

The Delhi's health infrastructure has started improving after Union Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a high-level meeting on November 15 and gave 12 instructions after Delhi saw a fresh spike in COVID-19 cases.

The spurt in coronavirus cases in Delhi has been witnessed since October 28 when the daily caseload breached the 5,000-mark for the first time and it crossed the 8,000-mark on November 11.

Delhi recorded 7,546 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the infection tally in the national capital to over 5.1 lakh, even as 98 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 8,041.

The rise in coronavirus cases in Delhi was attributed to the festive season, non-compliance of COVID-19-appropriate behaviours and rising pollution.