New Delhi: Delhi's All-India Institute of Medical Sciences -- one of the nodal institutions in the battle against coronavirus -- has decided to temporarily stop walk-in registrations for out-patients from Thursday in view of the growing number of daily Covid cases. The routine walk-in OPD registrations, including special clinics, will stop. Only those with prior appointments will be allowed, the hospital said.
The decision has been taken "in view of increased need to minimise possibility of community spread of ongoing Covid-19 pandemic," the institute has said.
OPDs and Specialty clinics will continue to register and provide OPD requisite Services only for such patients (new and follow-up) who are having prior appointments," read a notice from the hospital.
Respective Departments can fix the limit of daily patients for the next four weeks, the hospital said.
The restrictions from the hospital come as the Covid numbers over the last 24 hours shot up over 5,000. The 5100 cases logged is the highest this year and the biggest spike since late November.
The Delhi government has imposed a 10 pm to 5 am night curfew till April 30 in a bid to curb the spread.
AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria – who is also a key member of the government's Covid task force, has repeatedly underscored the need to strictly follow the safety measures for Covid.
During an interview with NDTV yesterday, asked if he thinks a lockdown at this point can be considered, Dr Guleria said: "So in regional areas where we have a number of cases, we could look at a strategy which could include a lockdown. I do agree with that. But it is not something we need to look at on a national level. We need to identify areas that are hotspots and we could have containment zones and lockdown areas (in those places)... "