New Delhi: 33 private hospitals directed to reserve 80 percent ICU beds for COVID patients

Delhi recorded its biggest single-day jump of 4,321 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, taking the city's tally to over 2.14 lakh, authorities said. It was for the fourth day in a row that over 4,000 fresh cases were recorded in Delhi, report PTI.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain told the reporters that, "Yesterday, we instructed 33 private hospitals to reserve 80 per cent of their ICU beds for coronavirus patients. This has been done since issues were being faced with regards to ICU beds in some private hospitals. I also held a video conference over this and an order has been issued in this regard."

Jain said there is a sufficient number of ICU beds in state-run and Centre-run hospitals, and also said there is a sufficient number of other beds in hospitals.

"We have also instructed hospitals to increase bed strength by 30 per cent for coronavirus patients, in case they want to. More than 50 per cent of beds are available in hospitals. Out of the total 14,372 beds available for COVID-19 patients, 7,938 are vacant, according to live status on Delhi Corona app," he added.

Asked if there can be another lockdown amid a spurt in coronavirus cases, the Health Minister ruled out the possibility.

"The time for enforcing a lockdown has ended. We have gained enough experience through the lockdown and know that wearing masks is an effective way to fight the infection. We are creating awareness to wear masks," he said.

Jain said the national capital has ramped up testing, which is why an increase in cases is being observed and stressed that it will help in containing and isolating cases of the infection. On Saturday, over 60,000 COVID-19 tests were conducted.

"If you test positive without symptoms, we will be able to isolate you in time and prevent the infection from spreading. The number might be increasing at this point but this will help in containing the virus," he added.

Sharing numbers, he said the positivity rate in the national capital is 7.19 per cent while the death rate in the last 10 days has been 0.68 per cent, "which is a good sign".

The overall death rate is 2.23 per cent, he said.

Earlier in May, the Delhi government had directed 117 private hospitals and nursing homes registered with it, having 50 beds or more, to reserve 20 per cent of their bed strength for Covid-19 patients citing the steep and steady rise in the number of cases.

As per a recent IANS report, this order was in addition to the 10 private hospitals that had been declared as Covid-19 dedicated hospitals in the past.

Full list of hospitals:

* Indraprastha Apollo Hospital

* Sir Ganga Ram Hospital

* St Stephen Hospital

* Max super Speciality, Saket

* Batra Hospital

* HAH Hospital

* BLK Hospital

* Maharaja Agrasen Hospital

* Max Patparganj

* Holy Family Hospital

* Fortis Okhla

* Max Shalimar Bagh

* Park Hospital

* Fortis Shalimar Bagh

* Venkateshwar Hospital

* Jaipur Golden Hospital

* Mata Chanan Devi Hospital

* Aakash Heart Care

* Dharmshila Narayana Hospital

* Manipal Hospital

* Pushpawati Hospital

* Shanti Mukund Hospital

* Shree Balaji Action Medical

* Metro Preet Vihar

* Teerath Ram Shah Charitable Hospital

* Sant Parmanand Hospital

* Moolchand Hospital

* Primus Super Speciality

Fully COVID hospitals:

* Max Saket

* Fortis Vasant Kunj

* Saroj Super Speciality

* MD City

* Sir Ganga Ram City Hospital

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