Taking precautionary steps to mitigate the effect of “possible” third wave, the Delhi Government has announced several measures, including creating a separate pediatric task force, ensuring the generation of 150 MT of oxygen, procuring adequate number of cylinders, creating a buffer stock of medicines and genome sequencing labs in LNJP hospital and ILBS to know about the variant of the virus and its characteristics.

In a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday with the expert and the preparations committees, several decisions to mitigate the impact of the third wave were made.

“Experts pointed out that a third wave is bound to emerge but nobody has any information on when such a wave will arrive and how dangerous it could be. It is our duty to be prepared so that if a third wave does arrive and turns out to be extremely dangerous, the Government should be prepared. We have formulated two committees and carried out detailed discussions with them,” he said.

“We are prepared taking a base of 37,000 corona cases reported in the city in April this year and even if we cross the limit, the Government is prepared for it,” he said.

Considering a chaos like situation about medicines being recommended on WhatsApp during the pick, a team of doctors and experts will be set up. If there is a demand for a particular medicine then the doctors will examine and inform that whether a particular medicine will be beneficial in treating coronavirus or not, he added.

“A list of all the important medicines has been prepared and a buffer stock will be created for those medicines. Keeping in mind the expiry date of medicines, a buffer stock is being created and even private hospitals have been directed to do so,” he said.

Apart from this, genome sequencing labs are being created in LNJP hospital and ILBS so that we also know about the variant that comes to Delhi – whether it is an old one or a new variant has emerged and then we can ask experts as to what precautions we need to take, he added.

The Delhi government will also make arrangements in the form of ‘Near To Home Covid Vaccination Centers’ (NHCVC) in the polling booths to ensure that all beneficiaries above 45+ years of age are reached and vaccination made accessible to them near their home, he said.