Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said his government had made all kinds of preparations to effectively handle the situation that might arise due to the feared spread of Omicron, the new variant of Covid-19, in the national capital.

Addressing a digital press conference here, Kejriwal said he held this
morning a meeting of the officials concerned to review the government’s preparedness in this regard.

He pointed out that Omicron had two characteristics: Its infections
can spread fast but the disease was not life-threatening. Keeping this
reality in view, the Delhi government has increased its testing capacity to three lakh tests daily from 60,000-70,000 tests a day as the situation existed till now.

He said,  “Very few Omicron-infected persons need to be hospitalised and there are fewer deaths due to this strain of Covid 19. So, we have enhanced our capacity to conduct 3,00,000 tests daily. Till now, the Delhi government had arrangements for conducting 60,000-70,000 tests daily.”

The Chief Minister appealed to people not to rush to a hospital in
case of an Omicron infection, but to remain at home. A Delhi government team will visit a patient quickly and provide him medicines, an oxymeter and other things to help get cured in the comfort of his home. Arrangements were being made for sufficient manpower to reach at least one lakh affected families daily.

He said, “If there are mild symptoms, we will treat such patients in the comfort of their homes. We are strengthening our home isolation system. Every patient will receive a medical kit from the Delhi government’s health authorities with the facility of tele-counseling for 10 days or more. Various agencies are being engaged for the purpose.”

Kejriwal informed that the Delhi government had been stocking medicines for the coming few months and was making arrangements for an adequate supply of medical-grade oxygen. The government will get delivered 15 oxygen tankers in around three weeks.

He quoted a recent sero-survey to point out that a vast majority of Delhiites have already been infected by the deadly virus and hence they are having anti-bodies. Besides this, at least 99 per cent people
have been administered their first vaccine dose and over 70 per cent have got both vaccine doses.

“Therefore, there is very little chance of Omicron or other Covid-19
infections spreading very fast. But if this happens, the government is
ready to handle the situation effectively. There is no need to worry
about it.” Kejriwal assured.