Coronavirus Pandemic: Know All About Delhi Govt's Roadmap And Preparations To Counter Third Covid Wave

COVID-19 Third Wave: 37,000 to 45,000 daily cases expected in Delhi during third wave of COVID-19, possible arrangements are being made to control spread.

By : ABP News Bureau | Updated at : 26 Jul 2021 08:36 PM (IST)

Coronavirus Pandemic: Know All About Delhi Govt's Roadmap And Preparations To Counter Third Covid Wave Coronavirus Pandemic: Know All About Delhi Govt's Roadmap And Preparations To Counter Third Covid Wave

Covid-19 Crisis in Delhi

New Delhi: Almost all day-to-day activities have now been permitted in Delhi, other than schools, colleges, coaching institutes, religious and social gatherings, albeit subject to terms and conditions. However, the danger of the third wave of COVID-19 still looms over us.

In view of this, preparations are being made in Delhi to deal with the third-wave of Covid-19. As a lesson learnt during the second wave of COVID-19, the Delhi government has focused more on the medical facilities, which fell short during the second wave of COVID-19.

Delhi Govt's roadmap to counter third-wave of Covid-19

In view of the third wave, the Delhi Government's action plan and roadmap includes State Level Test Force constituted by Delhi Government, increase in the number of health workers, Paediatric Task Force for the treatment of children, development of PSA Oxygen Plants, Cryogenic Bottling Plants, MLO Storage Plants. The roadmap also includes oxygen and bed management in hospitals, arranging medicines and rapid completion of vaccinations.

Preparation for Oxygen supply

A total of 44 oxygen plants are being set up by the state government in Delhi. 27 oxygen plants have been installed by the Delhi government till the month of June. Out of these, 5 oxygen plants have been installed in the month of May. These plants have been installed at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital and Burari Hospital.

In June, 22 new PSA oxygen plants were commissioned in 9 hospitals with capacity of some being close to 17 metric tonnes. Oxygen plants have been installed in these 9 hospitals:

• Sanjay Gandhi Hospital: 3 Plants, Capacity- 1000 LPM
• Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital: 3 Plants, Capacity- 1500 LPM
• Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital: 3 Plants, Capacity 1200 LPM
• Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital: 4 Plants, Capacity- 2000 LPM
• Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital: 3 Plants, Capacity - 1200 LPM
• Burari Hospital: 1 Plant, Capacity- 400 LPM
• Nirankari Field Hospital: 2 Plants, Capacity- 1000 LPM
• ILBS Hospital: 2 Plants, Capacity- 1000 LPM
• Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital: 1 Plant, Capacity- 170 LPM

By the end of the month of July, 17 more oxygen plants are planned to be operational. In Delhi, the central government has started 6 oxygen plants, apart from this 7 more plants would be installed by the central government.

3 Oxygen Storage Tanks have been built with a capacity of 57 MT per tank. For uninterrupted supply of oxygen, 18 oxygen tankers will be imported from Bangkok, Thailand by Delhi Government. Two cryogenic bottling plants of 12 MT capacity will be commissioned by July 31.

2 Special Task Forces To Counter Third Wave

Two special task forces are working in Delhi to counter the third wave of COVID-19.

First Committee: Paediatric Special Task Force constituted for the management of COVID-19 in children. This task force will have 8 members and will make preparations especially keeping in mind the effect of the third wave of COVID-19 on children. This committee will be headed by IAS Satya Gopal, the nodal officer for COVID-19 affairs. Apart from this, the committee will have the Principal Secretary of Health Department, Paediatricians, Pulmonologists, Medical Directors and Medical Superintendents from many hospitals as experts. The main task of this committee is to prepare for the effects of the third wave, while keeping children in mind. Also, prepare and model exercises and preparing a graded response action plan based on the positivity rate indicator, keeping in mind COVID-19 trends and mutants found in different cities across the world.
Second Committee: A State Level Expert Committee has been constituted to reduce the impact of possible third wave and its management. This committee consists of 13 officers, which will prepare an action plan to increase the health infrastructure in Delhi to deal with the third wave of COVID-19. This committee will also be headed by Satya Gopal, the nodal officer for COVID-19 affairs. IAS and DGHS officers will be a part of this committee. The committee will prepare an action plan for the third wave, based on of the current assessment of health infrastructure, oxygen plants and supply of medicines and future requirements.

2 Genome Sequencing Labs ready

Genome sequencing is a technique that helps understand and identify the changing nature of viruses in common people. In view of the possibility of third wave of COVID-19 in the country and the threat of delta plus variant, Genome Sequencing Labs have been opened in the capital city of Delhi. In view of the preparations to deal with the third wave, the Delhi government has so far started two of its own Genome Sequencing Labs in Delhi. One of these labs is in Delhi's Loknayak Hospital and the other is in ILBS (Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences).

5,000 community health assistants being trained

In view of the shortage of medical staff at the time of disaster, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced to prepare 5,000 community health assistants as a part of this plan for deployment of additional workforce. Under this plan, the training of the first batch of 500 trainees began on June 28. Training of a new batch begins once every two weeks. Under a special training module, these health assistants will be given training in paramedic, life saving, first aid and home care processes. These health assistants will assist doctors and nurses. Basic training programs are being carried out at 9 major hospitals in Delhi.

Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) prepared

In view of the outbreak of the third wave, a Graded Response Action Plan has been prepared for Delhi. In this action plan, it has been told that when and under what circumstances due to COVID-19, what action will be taken. There will be four types of alerts in GRAP-

Level-1 (Yellow) - This will be applicable when the positivity rate is more than 0.5% for two consecutive days, detection of 1500 new cases in a week or patients are admitted on 500 oxygen beds in a week.

Level-2 (Amber) - This will be applicable when the positivity rate is more than 1% for two consecutive days, or detection of 3500 new infection cases in a week or if patients are admitted on 700 oxygen beds in a week.

Level-3 (Orange) - This will be applicable when the positivity rate is more than 2% for two consecutive days or 9000 infection cases within a week or patients are admitted on 1000 oxygen beds in a week.

Level-4 (Red) - This will be applicable when the positivity rate is more than 5% for two consecutive days or detection of more than 16000 new infection cases in a week or if patients are admitted on 3000 oxygen beds.

45,000 daily cases expected in Delhi

According to the Delhi government, during the possible third wave, around 37,000 - 45,000 daily positive cases are expected, on the basis of which preparations are being made. Experts estimate that Delhi may have around 35,000 daily positive cases if the third wave proves to be normal, however cases may skyrocket to 45,000 positive cases on a daily basis if the third wave gets out of hand. Therefore, Delhi government is preparing for the management of beds, medicines, vaccines, etc. while keeping the normal and worst-case scenarios in mind.

Corona figures in the last 1 week in Delhi