Kejriwal reviews preparedness to tackle possible 3rd COVID-19 wave, safeguard children

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal chaired meetings on Friday to review the preparedness in tackling a possible third wave of COVID-19 pandemic and discussed measures to safeguard children, who are potentially at risk during the third wave.

The Chief Minister’s Office said in a tweet that arrangements in areas such as medical oxygen and ICU beds need to be put in place well to deal with a third wave of the virus. The deliberations mainly revolved around the scenarios of a third wave and the necessary improvement in infrastructure suggested by a panel comprising experts from IIT-Delhi and the health department.

The outlined scenarios include a possible repetition of the second wave which saw a 60% spike in daily infections. Building various scenarios would help the government scale up the oxygen storage buffer accordingly. The committees also focused on supply chain management of oxygen and medicines during the third wave, if it hits the country.

A potential outbreak of Coronavirus among children and the steps necessary to handle the situation may figure prominently in the government meetings. Apart from ICU and oxygen beds for children, the government also plans to procure face masks for them on a large scale, train nurses to be engaged in paediatric wards, and launch mass awareness event, an official said.

Third COVID wave to hit children?

Several states such as Maharashtra have already begun preparations to tackle a possible return of COVID-19. Medical experts have raised caution around the third wave stating that it could be particularly hard on children and the pediatric population. Over the last year, several young children have been confined to their homes with schools and educational insinuations shut. Due to this, experts believe that children might be witnessing a drop in their immunity levels, confined to their homes with a lack of physical activity. 

Institutes such as AIIMS Patna have already begun clinical trials of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin on children to test whether the vaccine is safe to innoculate the pediatric population.

Delhi COVID situation

On Friday, the national capital reported 523 new COVID-19 cases taking the tally of infections over 14.28 lakh, while the death toll mounted to 24,497. According to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department, as many as 50 fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours and the COVID-19 positivity rate in the national capital stood at 0.68 per cent.