New Delhi:
Delhi High Court expressed concern over rise in COVID-19 cases in the national capital and questioned the AAP government’s “doing everything under the Sun to ‘unlock’ things”.
The Delhi High Court allowed the AAP government to reserve 80% of ICU beds for COVID-19 patients in 33 private hospitals, saying the situation in the national capital is fairly dynamic and cases of coronavirus are spiralling.
A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad allowed the appeal of Delhi government challenging a single judge’s interim order staying the government’s decision to reserve 80 per cent ICU beds.The high court vacated the stay order passed by the single judge and listed the matter for further hearing on November 26 before the single bench and till then the reservation of 80 per cent of ICU beds will continue.
The high court was hearing a plea by the Delhi government urging it to empower it to enforce reservation of 80 per cent of ICU beds for COVID-19 patients in 33 private hospitals at least for 15 days in view of the rise in the number of cases.The high court said the Delhi government cannot be allowed to play with the lives of citizens and the state is responsible for the health of citizens for which others have to chip in, including private hospitals.
Delhi recorded its biggest single-day jump of 8,593 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday that took its infection tally to over 4.59 lakh people, while 85 new fatalities pushed the national capital’s death toll to 7,228.
The average pollution reading was 299 on Thursday on a scale of 500, where any number above 300 is classified as very poor and can cause respiratory illnesses.
ICU facilities in the city are in such short supply that some hospitals are squeezing more beds into existing wards ahead of the weekend.
“We are firefighting because Diwali is looking like a super spreader event in front of us and the public just doesn’t see the threat,” said a senior health department official in Delhi, declining to be named.
New Delhi’s sprawling bazaars have been swarming with shoppers ahead of Diwali and the wedding season after the government relaxed regulations in a bid to breathe life into the lockdown-hit economy. Mask-wearing is common but social distancing is not, and infections may spike in coming days.
The city was one of the first in the country to restart economic activity after the lockdown that started in March, letting restaurants, malls and other businesses restart to avoid spiralling joblessness.
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India has so far reported around 8.6 million coronavirus infections – the world’s second highest after the United States – and 127,571 deaths. But overall, it has been adding fewer cases daily since a mid-September peak, and its fatality figure of 92 per million people is well below the world’s tally of 160 and the United States’ 711.
Still, the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research says the recent fall in cases nationally could be undone if there is a resurgence in infections around Diwali.
Federal authorities have asked the local government in the capital to prepare resources to handle as many as 15,000 cases a day and test more aggressively.
Over half of the city’s 16,511 COVID hospital beds were occupied as of Wednesday, government data showed, with more than 24,000 other patients isolating at home. There is no separate data for ICU beds.
Delhi’s government said hundreds of more beds have been reserved for COVID-19 patients in nearly two dozen private and government hospitals. More than 100 ICU beds are also being added in government setups.
“Most of the cases are coming from working class people, those aged between 20 and 50, those who are very active,” Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain told Reuters partner ANI, indicating these victims may not need critical care.
He did not respond to e-mailed questions from Reuters.
All ICU beds at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, one of the top private hospitals in the city, are now occupied, said Dhiren Gupta, a senior pulmonologist.