Kejriwal said there is a shortage of vaccine across the country and an urgent need to ramp up its manufacturing on war footing while developing a national policy to inoculate everyone in the next few months.
With a capacity of 35 NM3 per hour (equivalent to 5 jumbo cylinders per hour), the plant will contribute to uninterrupted oxygen supply at DDU hospital, which is one of Delhi’s crucial Covid care centres.
On May 7, the police busted oxygen concentrators black-marketing racket during a raid and recovered 105 concentrators from two upscale restaurants in the Khan Market.
The DMRC statement came after the city government extended the ongoing lockdown for another week. According to the DMRC statement, in the wake of the extension of curfew in Delhi for the containment of Covid-19.
“We have used this COVID19 lockdown period to improve the health infrastructure, added more oxygen beds,” said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in his address to the state.
On Thursday, the police recovered 19 oxygen concentrators after conducting a search at Nega Ju Restaurant and Bar in Central Market of Lodhi Colony. The police arrested four men including the manager of the restaurant.
Earlier, two lionesses have tested positive for COVID-19 at Etawah Safari Park in Uttar Pradesh. Besides this, eight Asiatic lions housed in the Nehru Zoological Park (NZP) Hyderabad have tested positive for SARS-CoV2 virus.
Gupta accused the Delhi government of shutting down 45 out of the 137 vaccination centres run by the three municipal corporations — North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).
Of the 19,333 oxygen-supported beds for coronavirus patients across Delhi, only 2,170 were vacant around 10:45 am on Friday, according to the Delhi Corona app. Only 32 of the 5,566 ICU beds were available, it showed.
The IMD has forecast a partly cloudy sky, while the maximum temperature is expected to settle around 38 degrees Celsius. The relative humidity recorded at 8:30 am was 69 per cent.
As compared to Wednesday, petrol has become costlier by 25 paise while the price of diesel has increased by 30 paise.
The department could not release the document, which contains important figures reflecting the coronavirus situation in the city, on Tuesday night, and said, “we are also looking into the reasons why it was delayed”.
The petrol prices were increased by 19 paise per litre and diesel by 21 paise in Delhi
For the past several days, hospitals across the national capital and its suburbs have been sending out SOS messages on social media about a shortage of oxygen.
A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh issued a notice to the Centre, Delhi government, National Disaster Management Authority and the municipal bodies seeking their stand on the plea by a lawyer.
A volunteer-based organisation named ‘Robin Hood Army’ is helping out senior citizens who want to get vaccinated but they cannot step out of their homes.
The maximum temperature will settle around 39 degrees Celsius, it said.
Around 90 lakh people are eligible for the jabs under this category in Delhi. Five vaccination booths each have been set up at 77 schools for the exercise, an official said.
This is the second day on the trot that the capital has recorded over 400 fatalities due to the deadly virus.
The court had also warned of initiating contempt action against officials concerned, if the oxygen was not supplied, and the Centre wanted recall of that observation as well.
The court made the observation while hearing the petitions on how the health infrastructure is trying to cope with the deadly second wave of the pandemic.
In a related development, Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj has stopped taking admissions due to oxygen shortage. The hospital has four hours of oxygen left, sources said.
The directors of the two hospitals have been asked to procure consumable items and make provisions of nurses and sanitation staff for the COVID facility.
The provisions of the Act came into effect from April 27, according to a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
As many as 24,130 patients recovered in the last 24 hours. The cumulative fatality rate stands at 1.40 per cent.