Oxygen crisis: Delhi hospitals reach breaking point
The national capital is struggling to cope with a rapidly increasing caseload and demand for oxygen even as oxygen shortage reaches critical levels. The city’s top hospitals like Apollo, Max, Fortis, Ganga Ram etc. have all been issuing open appeals for ensuring continued supply of oxygen and help them save human lives.
In the meantime, 25 critical patients in Sir Ganga Ram hospital died due to lack of oxygen supply on April 23rd. The hospital has more than 700 patients admitted for COVID-19 treatment.
The Delhi government has planned to take a number of steps to augment oxygen availability and supply. The quota for Delhi has been increased from 378 metric tonnes to 480 metric tonnes. The government is also planning to airlift oxygen from Odisha. On Saturday,April 24th, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to all CMs, requesting them to provide whatever spare oxygen they had for the capital. “Though the Central govt. is also helping us, the severity of corona is such that all available resources are proving inadequate,” he tweeted.
The central government has also roped in the Indian Air Force to airlift oxygen cylinders, regulators, and essential medicines
Source: The Indian Express | The Times of India | NDTV | India TV
Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) starts audit of oxygen systems
Days after the oxygen gas leak tragedy in Nashik, in which 24 patients died at a hospital run by the Nashik Municipal Corporation due to disruptions in oxygen supply caused by a leakage in the main tank, PMC has ordered all civic and private healthcare facilities to conduct an audit of installed oxygen systems with the help of a third party. The hospitals are required to share the audit report with PMC.
As per PMC, the city’s oxygen demand stands at 300 metric tonnes per day. This includes PMC run hospitals that require 42 metric tonne per day. Pune city has 190 small and big hospitals, comprising 10,991 beds, for treating COVID-19 patients.
Source: Hindustan Times
Read more: Shortage of oxygen a big challenge for Pune hospitals
Two to four people per 10,000 caught COVID-19 infection post vaccination, says ICMR
The post vaccination breakthrough infection rate in India remains low, as revealed by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). Post vaccination breakthrough infection means contraction of the virus after being inoculated with a single or both doses of the vaccine.
For 1.1 crore people who received Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, 0.04% were found to be infected after the first and second dose respectively. On the other hand, out of 11.6 cr. people who received SII’s Covishield, 0.02% tested positive after the first dose and 0.03% after the second dose.
ICMR officials further said that most of those who tested positive post vaccination are healthcare and frontline workers. The government hopes that data shared by ICMR will help overcome vaccine hesitancy among the population.
Source: Moneycontrol
Shortage of staff in AIIMS Delhi, stops contact tracing
Due to insufficient resources and manpower, AIIMS Delhi has decided to discontinue the practise of risk assessment and contact tracing for healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19. At a meeting chaired by Dr Randeep Guleria, the institution will also discontinue the quarantining requirement for asymptomatic healthcare workers. From now on, only symptomatic healthcare workers will have to undergo a quarantine period.
Source: Hindustan Times
Read more: As we go into another lockdown, a look at TB numbers in Mumbai
Bhopal: COVID-19 death data mismatch
As Madhya Pradesh’s capital city goes into lockdown, local media reports have highlighted a grave mismatch between the records of death due to COVID-19 given out by the government and and that given by burial grounds. Official records of the burial grounds show more than 130 last rites performed for coronavirus patients on April 22nd whereas the government figures showed only five deaths due to COVID-19.
The Bhadbadha crematorium, for instance, recorded 92 dead bodies on April 22nd, out of which 61 were from Bhopal and the rest from other districts. On the same day, the Zada burial ground for Muslims recorded 31 dead bodies, 20 from Bhopal and 11 from other districts.
The government has not offered any official clarification on this so far.
Source: The News 18 Madhya Pradesh
New SoP for entering Dehradun
As per an SOP released by the District Magistrate, Dehradun, Registration at the smart city portal and 72 hour prior RT-PCR negative report will now be compulsory for entering the city. This is being done keeping in mind the Chardham Yatra scheduled to begin soon. Also, those who are returning to Uttarakhand will have to observe a seven-day home quarantine. At present, the state has imposed night curfew from 9 pm to 5 am in the light of rising COVID cases.
In a separate order, government offices across the state have been ordered to shut down on April 23, 24 and 25 and carry out sanitization procedures
Source: Hindustan Times | Zee News
[ Compiled by Rishabh Shrivastava ]
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