New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced more relaxations in the Covid-induced curbs imposed in the national capital. Along with the Unlock guidelines, he also informed citizens about the extensive steps being undertaken ahead of the possible third wave of the pandemic.
Speaking about the same, the Delhi CM said: "Experts say that the Third covid wave is going to approach, however, it is not clear when and how severely will the third wave strike. As a responsible government, it is our duty to prepare for it in advance so we are ready to protect the citizens".
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Talking about the preparations, CM Kejriwal said that he chaired 2 important meetings on Friday lasting for about 6 hours where he spoke to experts and officers who had contributed to the handling of Covid crisis in Delhi.
"The maximum number of cases that the national capital recorded during the peak of second wave was about 27,000 cases around April 22, 23, he said.
- Base Figure: The Delhi CM informed that accordingly, the experts have predicted that in the third wave cases would go as high as 37,000 infections. The government is beginning preparations for the impending situation based on this figure.
Keeping 37,000 as the best figure the government is calculating how many oxygen beds and ICU beds will be required along with essential supplies such as medical oxygen, medicines, etc.
- Preparations For Children: A pediatric task force has been constituted which will gauge the requirements for children. It will oversee how many oxygen beds, ICU beds and other necessary supplies are required in case children get infected and need hospital treatment. The nature of equipments will also be different according to their suitability for children.
- Oxygen Crisis: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also addressed the oxygen crisis that the national capital residents faced amid second Covid wave. He recalled how the crisis was resolved with Supreme Court's intervention and the assistance of Central Government. However, to avoid such a situation in the future, the national capital is increasing its oxygen storage capacity. The oxygen storage capacity has been boosted to accommodate 420 tonnes of the essential supply. 25 oxygen takers have been bought after 6,000 cylinders were imported from China. 64 small-scale oxygen plants are already being built.
- Necessary Medicines: CM Kejriwal talked about the concerns regarding medicines stating how people were rushing to buy certain drugs reading random recommendations on WhatsApp and social media. To tackle this issue, the government will constitute a team of doctors and experts that will examine the efficacy of any medicine that is being popularly demanded.
The state government will make such medicines available after the go-ahead of this team. In case doctors find the said medicine to be ineffective, citizens will be made aware of the necessary fact regarding the same.
Along with this, a list of important medicines has been created and the government will create a buffer stock of these drugs keeping their expiry dates in mind. Private hospitals are also being asked to create such buffer stocks.
- Tracking Covid Variants: Two genome sequencing labs are being made in LNJP Hospital and INPS to keep track of and identify the Covid variants infecting Delhi citizens so that appropriate steps can be taken as per the expert advise.
Assuring Delhi about his government's preparations, CM Kejriwal expressed hope that a third wave does not hit the national capital and that they are able to vaccinate all citizens before such a situation. "However, if the third wave approaches, we will do our best to ensure that people are not as overwhelmed because of it," he said as he concluded.