We've hit the peak of 3rd wave, it's been the worst so far: Jain

new delhi: Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday said that Delhi had hit the peak of the third COVID-19 wave and that the numbers clearly showed this was the worst wave the Capital has seen so far.

While Jain said that the government had increased the number of beds for COVID-19 patients, there was no plan as of yet to rope in hotels and banquet halls once again as the Delhi government had done during the first wave.

"The third wave of COVID-19 is at its peak in Delhi. The number of cases suggests it is the worst wave so far.ww But the cases will come down soon," Jain said. The minister attributed the increase in the number of cases to aggressive testing and contact-tracing.

He, however, said laxity on the part of the people has been a major reason behind the spike in new cases. "Some people think nothing will happen to them if they don't wear a mask. They are wrong. Mask is the only medicine for COVID-19 till a vaccine is developed," Jain

added.

While in the last two days, the Delhi government has added 1,100 COVID-19 beds in government and private facilities, increasing cases are leading to hospitals in the city quickly filling up.

The Delhi Corona mobile application showed that on Sunday night, over 8,000 regular COVID-19 beds were vacant but as for ICU beds with ventilators, only a little over 240 beds were vacant. Ventilator ICU beds are full in most prominent hospitals such as GTB Hospital and Safdarjung but still available in AIIMS, Lok Nayak and Rajeev Gandhi Super Speciality hospitals.

Of the around 96 hospitals that are admitting COVID-19 patients to ICU beds with ventilators, only 10 had five or more ICU beds with ventilators. All other hospitals had either no beds or less than five beds.

As for ICU beds without ventilator support for COVID-19 patients, the application reported a little over 400 beds vacant as of Sunday

night.