In the wake of the emerging threats from the Omicron variant of the deadly Covid-19 virus, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal  reassured citizens of the national capital that the Aam Aadmi Party government is ramping up its health infrastructure to ensure a Second Wave-like crisis does not emerge.

“I held a meeting with the officials today. We hope Omicron doesn’t come to India, but we need to be prepared as responsible governments… As far as beds are concerned, we have prepared 30,000 oxygen beds and around 10,000 of these are ICU beds,” the Delhi Chief Minister said in his virtual address today evening.

Delhi was among the worst-hit places in the country during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in April-May this year, as the city’s hospitals and cemeteries were overwhelmed by thousands of cases and deaths every day.

“Besides this, 6,800 ICU (intensive care unit) beds are under construction. They will be ready by February. So, we will have 17,000 beds soon. We have made arrangements for preparing 100 oxygen beds each in every Municipal ward on a 2-week notice. So, 27,000 oxygen beds can be prepared at a short notice,” Kejriwal informed.

Earlier in the day, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the AAP government “is fully prepared” to tackle the potentially “more contagious” strain ‘Omicron’.

“There are 32 types of medicines that are used during Corona (treatment). A buffer stock of 2 months is being ordered so that there is no shortage of medicines. Combining all hospitals in Delhi, we have around 750 MT of oxygen capacity. Extra storage capacity of 442 MT is being prepared. PSA plants set up-Delhi generates 121 MT of oxygen. We have also ordered the installation of telemetry devices on all oxygen tanks to know availability of oxygen per minute in each,” the Chief Minister said.