The national capital, Delhi, is likely to see at least one lakh coronavirus cases by the end of June according to a five-member expert committee formed by the Delhi government to plan for the upgradation of health infrastructure in the city to fight the Chinese pandemic.
According to the reports, the committee has advised the government to make arrangements for an additional 15,000 beds by the end of June and around 42,000 by mid-July to cater to the needs of the patients in the national capital.
The five-member committee submitted its report to the Delhi government on Saturday, however, the government is yet to make its findings public.
Dr Mahesh Verma, chairman of the committee told news agency ANI that they have studied the trends of other cities like Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Chennai and based on the calculations, the national capital can expect over a lakh cases by end of June. “Our calculations project more than one lakh cases in the national capital by the end of June. We want that no patient should suffer. We are getting prepared to combat the virus,” he said.
Another official pointed out Delhi’s doubling rate, which is currently 15 days and said that based on these projections, the number of cases would increase. “About 25 percent of patients will require hospitalisation. Most of the patients would have a medical condition of ‘hypoxia’ and 5 percent would need a ventilator. Hence, we have advised the government to arrange the maximum facility of oxygen supply for patients,” he said.
As of June 7, the national capital has recorded 27,654 cases of novel coronavirus cases, while the death toll due to the disease mounted to 761. Delhi currently has 16,229 active cases.
Delhi has close to 9,000 beds currently
Reportedly, Delhi currently has more than 8,600 beds for the treatment of coronavirus patients. Out of these, nearly half of them are already occupied. The Delhi government is working to increase the number of beds to about 9,800 by the mid of June.
“There are about 25,000 coronavirus cases in Delhi at present and the doubling time is 14 to 15 days. This means, by mid-June, there will be about 50,000 cases and by month-end 1 lakh cases. Now, assuming that 20 to 25 per cent of these patients need hospitalisation, Delhi would need 15,000 beds by the end of the month and 42,000 by mid-July. We have not calculated beyond that,” said Dr Mahesh Verma, chairman of the five-member committee.
