13,500 beds for COVID-19 patients in Delhi now, says Arvind Kejriwal

Nearly 20,000 tests are being conducted daily and the number of beds for COVID-19 patients has increased to 13,500 in the national capital, which is following an aggressive five-pronged strategy to fight the rising number of novel coronavirus cases, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday.

Nearly 20,000 tests are being conducted daily and the number of beds for COVID-19 patients has increased to 13,500 in the national capital, which is following an aggressive five-pronged strategy to fight the rising number of novel coronavirus cases, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday. Addressing a virtual press conference, Kejriwal also thanked the Centre for providing testing kits to the Delhi government to ramp up its testing. He also listed out five weapons- increasing the number of beds, testing and isolation, providing oximeters, use of plasma therapy and conducting surveys and screening - that has helped the national capital to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

"In the last one week, the number of beds has increased significantly. There are 13,500 beds present in Delhi now, of which 6,500 are occupied. Also, 20,000 tests are being conducted daily. I thank Centre for providing us with the needed testing kits," Kejriwal said. The chief minister had earlier tweeted that testing in the national capital had increased by four times.

"We have purchased 4000 oxygen concentrators for COVID-19 patients," he added. The Delhi chief minister said that the number of beds has been increased as the first measure to fight coronavirus and said that the number should increase further. "Even if they are lying empty. So that in case of a sudden spike in cases there is no shortage," Kejriwal said.

He also said that there had been a spike in the number of corona cases after the lockdown imposed to prevent its further spread had been lifted. Delhi has confirmed 77,240 COVID-19 cases, including 2,492 deaths, as per the Union Health Ministry's Saturday bulletin. (ANI)

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