Delhi projects 550k cases by July-end amid a debate on community spread
NEW DELHI: A day after Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal revoked the Delhi government’s order to reserve beds in its hospitals for Delhi residents, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the Capital is likely to have 550,000 Covid-19 cases by July 31, for which 80,000 beds would be needed, and accused the L-G of not having “any plan” for the surge in hospital admissions.
The issue of hospital beds turned into a war of words, with the L-G releasing a statement saying rather than “discriminating between patients, the goal of the government should be to plan and prepare for adequate infrastructure”.
Kejriwal had on Sunday announced that hospitals under the Delhi government and some private ones will be reserved for the people of Delhi.
The order was overruled by the L-G on Monday saying that ‘right to health’ was an integral part of ‘right to life’ under the Constitution— a point which the L-G clarified to Sisodia and health minister Satyendar Jain during Tuesday’s meeting of the state disaster management authority (SDMA).
The meeting also saw a lack of consensus between the Delhi government and the central government officers over community spread in the Capital.
“The central government officials present in the meeting said it has not happened yet in the city,” Sisodia said, even as Jain said they are unable to establish contact tracing in about 50% of cases.
COVID QUOTA IN PVT HOSPITALS INCREASED
NEW DELHI: The Delhi government has ordered 22 private hospitals in the national capital to reserve more than 20% of their beds for the treatment of Covid-19 patients.
These include three branches of Fortis hospitals and four of Max hospitals. As per the order, Fortis Vasant Kunj will become a completely Covid-19 hospital and will be adding beds.