New Delhi: Amid the reports of new Covid variant spread, the Delhi Government is leaving no stone unturned to protect its citizens. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal chaired a high-level review meeting to assess the COVID situation and take stock of the government’s preparedness.
He stated, “Not a single case of BF.7 variant in Delhi at present, but the government is fully prepared to deal with any possible situation. The new prevalent variant of Corona in China is BF.7, no case of BF.7 variant has been found in testing so far in Delhi.”
Kejriwal sought all information about the availability of oxygen, beds and other critical facilities and equipment from health department officials and gave directions to ramp up preparedness in terms of infrastructure and awareness as per the situation.
He directed the health department to keep a close watch on COVID and warned officials of strict action if any kind of negligence was found in the due course of time. The meeting was attended by Deputy CM Manish Sisodia who holds the charge of the Health Department as well as the Chief Secretary and senior officers of the concerned departments.
Chief Minister said, “If the need arises, we can test up to one lakh people daily. Right now we have 8,000 beds allotted for Corona; in the previous peak there were 25,000 beds, now we have prepared for 36,000 beds. At present we have 6,000 reserve oxygen cylinders and 15 oxygen tankers as well as a capacity to store 928 metric tonnes of oxygen. In Delhi, almost 100 percent people have got the first and second dose, but only 24 percent people have got their precaution dose. I request all the people of Delhi to get their precaution dose administered as soon as they can.”
During the meeting, he also issued instructions to send all positive cases for genome sequencing, increase precaution dose coverage and manpower in hospitals. He directed officials to take prior approval for procurement of essential items needed and inspect machines in all hospitals.
The number of COVID-19 cases in China has suddenly shot up and because of that there is a concern regarding the re-emergence in India as well. Apart from China, Corona cases in some other countries in the world are also on the rise. The variant of concern in China is BF.7. As of now in Delhi, there has been no case of this variant. So, at the moment there is nothing to worry about.
“The said variant has so far not been found during the testing. We have been sending all the positive tests from Delhi for genome sequencing. But apart from that we have also picked up sewage from seven parts of the city and tested it for the BF.7 variant and no positive result has been found so far. The few positive cases of Covid that have emerged in Delhi in the last couple of days are of XBB variant or its sub lineages. Around 92 percent of positive Covid cases in Delhi at the moment are of the XBB variant,” Kejriwal added.
