COVID-19: Arvind Kejriwal spoke about how Delhi is preparing the face the Omicron threat
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today explained the city's position on medical oxygen stocks amid concerns over Omicron, a variant known to be highly transmissible first detected in South Africa.
Delhi's preparedness for Omicron:
- 30,000 oxygen beds are ready and 17,000 intensive care unit, or ICU, beds will be ready by February. Delhi has 750 tonnes of medical oxygen. There are extra storage tanks of 442 tonnes and the city is producing had 0 capacity before. 121 tonnes oxygen Delhi produces now.
- Devices fitted to oxygen tanks in hospital are tracking levels in real-time, minute by minute, to see which tank has how much oxygen left. A control room monitors this. Delhi has 6,000 empty oxygen cylinders from China.
- The city is prepared for home isolation of patients infected with the Omicron variant.
- The national capital as well as other cities had plunged into a big crisis during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year. The second wave infection intensely affected oxygen saturation levels in patients, leaving them gasping for breath. The sudden need for a large amount of medical oxygen had thrown the entire medical infrastructure in Delhi and other cities in disarray, which could be solved only after oxygen production was raised.
- It is, however, not exactly known whether Omicron can harm oxygen saturation levels in patients. Doctors in South Africa have said Omicron infection symptoms may include extreme tiredness.
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