Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, November 4, said the national capital has seen a jump in the number of new COVID-19 cases in the last few days and it can be called a "third wave".
"We have been monitoring the situation continuously and there is no need to panic. We will take whatever steps are needed," the chief minister said.
This comes after Delhi registered its highest single-day spike of COVID cases since the pandemic outbreak on Tuesday, November 3.
The national capital reported 6,725 new cases in the last 24 hours taking the infection tally to over 4 lakh, even as the positivity rate stood at 11.29 percent amid the festive season and rising pollution. Meanwhile, 48 fatalities were reported during the same period.
According to several reports, a high-level meeting involving Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, and other senior officials was conducted to review the testing plan being implemented amid the surge in cases.
National Centre for Disease Control has stated that if COVID-19 precautions are not being followed, the national capital would witness a spike of around 15,000 cases.
"The seven-day average testing has decreased from approximately 60,000 tests in September to 51,500 now, a decline of 14%," said Professor Rijo John, health economist highlighting a massive dip in the number of tests, especially during rising infections.
Adding to the list of concerns, there has been a substantial decrease in the availability of beds as reported by the Economic Times.
The availability of ICU beds with ventilators dedicated to the COVID patients at 39 private and a central government-run hospital in the national capital has dipped to negligible amid the massive surge, according to official data.
The figure includes over 40 percent of the total hospitals where such a facility is currently being provided. As of now, 96 hospitals, including government and private-run, extend the facility.
Central government-run Northern Railway Hospital and leading private hospitals such as Max, Indraprastha Apollo, and Fortis hospitals revealed full occupancy of the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds with ventilators available for the COVID patients.
The state government's digital Corona Dashboard on Wednesday also showed that only 401 beds were available out of the 1244 ICU beds.
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