COVID-19: Kejriwal seeks Centre's help for oxygen, beds; DRDO to reopen medical in Delhi

New Delhi: Terming the COVID-19 situation in the national capital as “very serious”, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday seeking help for beds and oxygen for coronavirus patients.

Kejriwal also requested the prime minister for reserving at least 7000 central government hospital beds out of the 10000 in Delhi for COVID patients, and immediate supply of oxygen.

“The COVID situation has become very serious in Delhi. There is huge shortage of beds and oxygen. I request that at least 7000 out of 10,000 beds in Central government hospitals in Delhi be reserved for COVID patients and oxygen be immediately provided in Delhi,” he wrote.

“We are making all efforts at our level. Your help is needed,” he added.

He thanked the prime minister for the 500 ICU beds being readied in Delhi by the DRDO and urged him to raise the number of these beds to 1000.

On Saturday, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) announced to reopen a medical facility near the Delhi airport to treat COVID-19 patients. The facility is expected to be made operational with 250 beds by Monday. The number of beds will be increased to 500 within a few days of its reopening.

The officials said all the beds will have oxygen cylinders and the facility will have adequate number of ventilators and all required medical infrastructure. The national capital has been reeling under a massive spike in coronavirus cases in the last few days. The city recorded over 24,000 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day spike till date.