As coronavirus cases in the national capital show an upward trend, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday, 23 December, said that the state government has built a capacity to handle as many as 1 lakh cases daily.
"We've created a capacity to conduct 3 lakh tests daily. With our preparations, we can handle as many as 1 lakh daily cases if such a situation arises."Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
At the peak of the second wave that plagued the country in April-June this year, Delhi had reported as many as 28,000 cases in a single day.
'Focus on Home Isolation'
Addressing a press conference amid concerns about the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, of which Delhi has reported 64 cases so far, Arvind Kejriwal said:
"Omicron has two characteristics. One, that it spreads at great speed. Two, it appears to be quite mild. It leads to fewer hospitalisations, deaths."
Observing that the viral variant is mild, Kejriwal appealed to the city's residents to stay at home, and spoke about the state government's strengthening of home isolation protocols.
"We appeal to persons with mild symptoms to stay at home, don't rush to hospital. Under our home isolation module, our healthcare workers will visit patients at their residence, conduct tele-counselling and also give a kit containing oximeter, medicines etc to them," he said.
'Arranging Medicines, Oxygen': Kejriwal
Kejriwal indicated that the city was increasing its medical manpower to meet with the expectation of a high number of cases of the highly-transmissible variant. He noted that the government was also stocking medicines for the coming two months.
Acknowledging that there was a paucity of oxygen in Delhi during the previous outbreak, the Aam Aadmi Party leader said, "We are arranging medical oxygen and 15 oxygen tankers will be delivered to us in the next 3 weeks."
The chief minister had held a high-level review meeting earlier on Thursday, a day after Delhi reported 125 COVID-19 cases – the highest in six months.
As much as 99 percent of the city's population has received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while over 70 percent have received the second dose, Kejriwal indicated on Thursday.
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