Kejriwal says his govt. well prepared to tackle Omicron wave, if any
Kejriwal says his govt. well prepared to tackle Omicron wave, if any
Says “home isolation” to be the top priority
New Delhi, Dec. 23 (Delhi Crown): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that his government was well-prepared to tackle the Omicron variant crisis, if it happens in the coming days.
He said adequate arrangements have been made for conducting up to 300,000 tests and also handling 100,000 new cases per day.
The primary focus would be on strengthening the “home-isolation module” as, according to him, “the Omicron variant is mild, though it spreads very fast”.
“We have raised our capacity to conduct up to 300,000 tests every day, from the present 60,000-70,000 tests per day. During the second wave in April-May, the maximum number of cases had gone up to 26,000-27,000 cases per day. Now we have done preparations to handle up to 100,000 new cases per day,” said Kejriwal in a televised address.
He further stated – “Since it is a very mild virus, I appeal to people to stay at home. We will provide you medicines at your doorstep. Don’t rush to hospitals until it’s very necessary.”
The Chief Minister added – “We are making a strong home isolation module. A medical team will be sent to the patients’ homes and deliver a kit containing medicines, oximeter etc. Thereafter, doctors will do their tele-counselling for 10 days or more depending on their situation.”
According to Kejriwal, his government will hire the required agencies to carry out home isolation module. Such teams will visit up to 100,000 houses per day. Capacity will be increased from the present level 1100 houses at present, he added.
“Foreign countries’ experiences have told us that it needs a great amount of manpower. So, we are arranging sufficient manpower to handle the situation,” Kejriwal also said, and added that enough medicines stocks are being arranged which can last up to 2 months.
“We are going to buy extra medicines in the next few days. To tackle oxygen shortage which people in Delhi faced during the second wave, we are arranging 15 trucks/tankers to transport oxygen at the required places,” he said.
