230 ICU, 842 non-ICU beds added in 33 pvt hosps; vax for 45+ begins

New Delhi: Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said 230 more ICU beds for Coronavirus patients have been added in 33 private hospitals on the directions of the city government. He also said the number of non-ICU beds in these private facilities has been increased by 842.

"We are in a comfortable position (in terms of number of beds available). Overall, only 25 per cent of the beds for Coronavirus patients in government and private hospitals are occupied. A few private hospitals have all ICU beds full. So, necessary orders were issued by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday," Jain told reporters.

Orders have been issued to update the status of beds on the government's data management portal, a statement later quoted him as saying.

The number of non-ICU COVID-19 beds in private hospitals has increased from 1,705 on Wednesday to 2,547 Thursday, while ICU beds have increased to 838 from 608 a day ago, the government said.

He also said that the positivity rate in Delhi hovered around 3 per cent for the last few days. Whereas, it has breached the 10-per cent mark in several states.

The health minister also said that 65 lakh eligible beneficiaries (aged above 45) will be given Coronavirus vaccine shots at more than 500 sites, starting Thursday.

"We have enough vaccines available. The number of eligible beneficiaries is quite large. We will make efforts to complete the inoculation as soon as possible," he said.

Delhi reported 992 coronavirus cases on Tuesday with a positivity rate of 2.70 per cent.

Officials said the low number of cases can be attributed to less tests conducted on Monday on account of Holi.

The city had recorded 1,904 cases on Monday, the highest in around three and a half months. Authorities reported 1,881 cases on Sunday, 1,558 cases on Saturday, 1,534 cases on Friday, 1,515 cases on Thursday, 1,254 cases on Wednesday and 1,101 cases on Tuesday — the first time since December 24 that the number of cases crossed the 1,000 mark.

The positivity rate was 2.77 per cent on Monday, 2.35 per cent on Sunday, 1.70 per cent on Saturday, 1.80 per cent on Friday, 1.69 per cent on Thursday, 1.52 per cent on Wednesday, and 1.31 per cent on Tuesday.

"In the third phase, people aged 45 and above as on January 1, 2022 are eligible for vaccination, irrespective of their comorbidity status," a senior government officer said.

The vaccination centres will operate from 9 am to 9 pm.

Only registered beneficiaries will be given vaccine shots between 9 am and 3 pm. The unregistered ones can take the jabs from 3 pm to 9 pm. They just need to carry their Aadhaar card or any other valid identity proof, an official said.

The third phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive is slated to span 192 health facilities, including 136 private hospitals in the national capital on Thursday, officials said.

Delhi reported 1,819 coronavirus cases on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 2.71 percent, while 11 more people succumbed to the pathogen. The number of cumulative cases stands at 6,62,430. Over 6.42 lakh patients have recovered from the virus.

Eleven more people died due to the disease, taking the toll to 11,027, it said. The number of active cases rose to 8,838 from 7,429 on Tuesday. A total of 67,0,70 tests, including 36,808 RT-PCR tests, were conducted a day ago, the bulletin said.

The number of people under home isolation rose to 5,196 from 4,832 a day ago. The containment zones rose to 2,009 from 1,903 on Tuesday, it said.

Over 25,000 beneficiaries received COVID-19 vaccine shots in the national capital by 6 pm on Wednesday, and only one of them has reported adverse events so far, officials said here.

Moreover, in light of COVID-19 cases rising in Gurugram as well, authorities in the NCR city have ordered all public and private hospitals to reserve at least 50 per cent of their bed capacity for COVID-19 patients. This reservation for Corona patients had earlier been reduced to 35 per cent.