With COVID-19 cases surging in Delhi, courtesy of the omicron variant, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal chaired a meeting on Thursday to assess the situation. In the meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Satyendar Jain, Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot, and other senior officials, Kejriwal reassured people that capacities were being ramped up to handle surges, should they occur.

For handling the new wave of infections, Kejriwal said that Delhi would strongly focus on home isolation of patients, and steps would be taken to ensure that patients have everything they need at home. The Chief Minister said that every person who tests positive for COVID-19 would receive a phone call from the government to reassure them that they would receive all necessary help.

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However, beyond home isolation, Kejriwal also said that steps were being taken to ramp up the capacities of hospitals. Having learnt lessons from Delhi’s previous struggles with COVID-19 infections, Kejriwal announced that fifteen oxygen tankers would be deployed to keep hospitals properly stocked with oxygen, something that Delhi had struggled with during the summer. Further, Kejriwal announced that the national capital had the capacity to conduct three lakh tests per day, and that hospital beds would be increased to ensure that Delhi could handle up to one lakh cases a day.

“The Chief Minister directed that although the number of cases was low currently, all the preparations, including stock of medicines, oxygen tankers, oximeters and other such necessities, should be readied within 24 hours,” a source told The Hindu.

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Kejriwal’s announcement comes at a time when Delhi is experiencing a spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases. On Wednesday, the Delhi government’s health bulletin revealed that the number of new COVID-19 infections had risen to 125, while the Union Health Ministry revealed that the number of omicron cases in Delhi had risen to 64 on Thursday, a slight increase over Wednesday’s 57.