Delhi facing shortage of oxygen, Remdesivir amid COVID-19 spike: Kejriwal

New Delhi [India], April 17 (ANI): As the number of COVID-19 infections continue to rise in the national capital, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday informed that the city has recorded around 24,000 new cases in last 24 hours and there is a shortage of oxygen and anti-viral drug Remdesivir.
Addressing media after his meeting with Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Kejriwal said the Delhi government has requested an immediate supply of oxygen and drugs like Remdesivir.
The Chief Minister further said that Delhi has a limited number of ICU beds, and oxygen and ICU beds are decreasing very sharply.
"We are taking several steps to scale up beds capacity...I hope that we add 6,000 beds in two or three days. No one knows when the peak will come. Central government gave 4,100 beds in November but this time only 1,800 beds have been given. I requested Dr Harsh Vardhan to reserve 50 per cent beds for COVID patients," he said.
"We are informed that hospital, especially private hospitals in Delhi are facing a shortage of oxygen. I have requested Dr Harsh Vardhan for an immediate supply of oxygen to Delhi. I also requested the supply of Remdesivir drug," the Chief Minister added.
He informed that during the meeting with Union Health Minister there was a discussion about possible black marketing of medicines.
"Directions have been given to take strict action against people who will found hoarding or black marketing medicines," he said.
The CM also said that strict action will be taken against the hospitals that are feeding wrong data about the availability of beds on the Delhi government's app if they refuse to admit patients despite showing the availability of bed.
"We received complaints about the delay on COVID test reports in Delhi. The reason behind that is labs are taking samples beyond the capacity of testing. Now strict actions will be taken against lab that for found doing so," Kejriwal said. (ANI)