COVID-19 situation in Delhi under control, says Satyendar Jain

New Delhi [India], January 3 (ANI): Coronavirus situation in the national capital is under control, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Sunday.
"Currently, Delhi witnessing 494 positive cases which is the lowest number of cases since May 17, 2020. The positivity rate in the national capital has been increased up to 0.3 which means that only seven persons out of 1,000 are being tested positive for COVID-19. However, the testing is happening at a large scale," Jain stated while speaking with ANI.
The Minister also appealed to people to keep wearing masks and take precautions.
Talking about the COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by the DCGI, the Minister said that the national capital is prepared for the vaccination process in a phased manner.
"In the first phase, healthcare workers and frontline workers will be vaccinated. There are three lakh healthcare workers and six lakh frontline workers in Delhi who will be administered with the COVID-19 vaccine," he said.
"Yesterday a dry-run has been conducted across the national capital in government, private hospitals, and dispensaries. We are preparing for 1,000 centres for the vaccination process. Of which 500 to 600 centres will start for the first phase," he said.
"We have done de-escalations in hospitals three or four days ago. The beds in Delhi hospitals reduced by 2,000 to 2,500 and private hospitals by 5,000 to 6,000. The bed occupancy rate for COVID patients is less than 2,000. Earlier we have around 18,800 beds and now we have 10,000 to 11,000 beds," he said.
COVID-19 vaccines of Serum Institue of India and Bharat Biotech have been granted permission for restricted use in emergency situation, said Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Sunday.
"After adequate examination, CDSCO has decided to accept the recommendations of the Expert Committee and accordingly, vaccines of M/s Serum and M/s Bharat Biotech are being approved for restricted use in emergency situation and permission is being granted to M/s Cadila Healthcare for the conduct of the Phase III clinical trial," said VG Somani, DCGI, during a media briefing today. (ANI)