Recovery rate nears 80%; plans to turn stadiums into Covid centres put on hold

New Delhi: With Delhi now often reporting a relatively fewer number of new COVID-19 cases and clocking a recovery rate that is now closer than ever to 80 per cent, the Delhi government has now decided to put on hold the plan to convert some of the largest stadiums in the Capital into makeshift COVID-19 facilities.

"Seeing the current situation, there is no need to convert stadiums into COVID-19 care facilities. We can use them (stadiums) for such facilities, but it would be an unnecessary step because many people are under home-isolation and recovering from the virus," an official in the East Delhi district administration said.

Furthermore, the Capital has been regularly reporting more daily recoveries than new patients and on Saturday for the first time in 31 days, the city clocked an active patient count of below 20,000. In addition, the number of hospitalised patients in the city has steadily been reducing over the last few weeks. As of now, Delhi has close to 11,000 vacant beds for Coronavirus patients and only 4,315 are currently occupied.

The East Delhi district official added that if such need arises in the coming days, the district authorities will use stadiums as makeshift COVID-19 care facilities. "We are closely monitoring the situation. As of now, there is no need to use any stadium for a COVID-19 care facility," an official in the south district administration said.

Last month, a Delhi government panel, constituted by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, had suggested using Pragati Maidan, Talkatora Indoor Stadium, Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium and JLN Stadium, Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium and Dhyanchand National Stadium for the purpose.

And with the pandemic in the Capital seemingly appearing to be in control over the last two weeks, the Delhi government has now asked all district magistrates in the city to document initiatives taken by them to effectively handle the COVID-19 crisis in their respective jurisdictions, a move aimed at showcasing efforts to control the infection which might also help officials understand how to deal with public health crises if any other were to arise in the future, officials here said.

The DMs have been asked to also mention the difficulties they faced while executing new initiatives in their districts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. A senior government official said several districts have taken effective steps to ramp up medical infrastructure to take other measures, including an application for robust surveillance and testing facilities on a bus.

"The need was felt to showcase all such initiatives taken by the district magistrates so that their efforts are reflected in documents. All the DMs have been asked to make proper documentation of these initiatives introduced by them to deal with the COVID-19 situation," an official said, adding that no deadline has been fixed for this and the district officials may do this as soon as they can.

"Authorities in districts are busy with routine work to ensure all things are in order. We will soon prepare a detailed document of our initiatives taken by us and submit the same," said a district magistrate who did not wish to be named. Another DM said that they will submit this document in the next 15 days.