A newly installed oxygen plant at a hospital in Tihar prison will be made operational in four days while all dispensaries in the three jail complexes of Delhi have been designated as Covid care centres amid a surge in infections, officials said on Sunday.As part of steps taken against the spread of the viral disease in Tihar, Mandoli and Rohini jail complexes, many medical isolation cells have been set up for inmates showing slight symptoms of Covid-19, they said.
Those who test positive but are asymptomatic will be kept in separate isolation cells within the same jail complex. The Tihar Prison comprises central jails number one to nine, the Rohini complex houses central jail number 10 while the Mandoli prison complex houses central jails number 11 to 16.The 120-bed hospital in Tihar and the 48-bed facility in Mandoli have been converted into Covid Health Centres with the round-the-clock presence of doctors, 50 oxygen concentrators and over 100 cylinders and essential medicines to treat patients.“However, if the condition of any Covid-positive inmate turns serious, then he or she would be immediately shifted to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital or Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital,” a senior jail official said.
The newly installed oxygen plant will be functional mostly within four days, the official said. The jail administration said they have formed four committees for the inmate and staff who test Covid positive.Each of these panels has been divided into four jurisdictions with each comprising four members, including jail staff and officers, tasked with looking after them if they need further help and guidance.
22,751 cases logged
Delhi logged 17 deaths due to Covid-19 and 22,751 infections in a day as the positivity rate soared to 23.53 per cent, according to the city health department’s data released on Sunday.The number of new cases reported on Sunday was the highest since May 1 last year when the city recorded 25,219 cases with a positivity rate of 31.61 per cent.A total of 1,618 Covid patients are in hospitals. Of them, 44 are on ventilator support, government data showed.
