Civic bodies in Delhi gear up in anticipation of third wave

New Delhi: From strengthening healthcare infrastructure to mass media campaigns to raise awareness on Covid-appropriate behaviour and vaccination, civic bodies in Delhi are making preparations in anticipation of the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Officials of all three municipal corporations said the first and second waves had stretched the system to its limits, from hospitals to crematoriums, and so efforts are being made to ensure the scenario does not repeat. "We are focusing on the vaccination drive and 5.75 lakh people have been vaccinated at our centres till date. We pray that the situation does not worsen again, but we are prepared for the worst," South Delhi Mayor Mukesh Suryan told PTI. He said vaccination is a major shield to protect people from the third wave, but "soon we will run mass media campaigns, including on radio to bring awareness about Covid safety norms, besides vaccination".

"Our auto-tippers (garbage-carrying mini-trucks) are already spreading the message on vaccination through public address systems installed on the vehicles. Pamphlets will also be distributed to generate more awareness in market places and office areas on the importance of wearing masks and social distancing," the South Delhi mayor said. Soon, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) will also come up with a thematic radio jingle, which would be played on FM stations to raise awareness, he added. In April-May, Delhi was hit by a brutal second wave of the pandemic, which claimed a number of lives every day, and oxygen supply shortage was reported at various hospitals, adding to woes of people.

Both daily cases and single-day death count had started spiralling up from April 19, with over 28,000 cases and 277 deaths recorded on April 20; rising to 306 fatalities on April 22. On May 3, the city registered a record 448 deaths, according to official data. Hospitals saw family members scrambling for beds, while morgues and crematoriums were pushed to their limits due to high number of fatalities. Visuals of mass cremation taking place in east Delhi's Seemapuri were heart-wrenching. Despite a fall in daily cases in the last several days, medical experts have cautioned that the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was imminent.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had asserted that his government was preparing on a "war-footing" to combat it. Civic bodies have also developed plans to deal with a third wave, if the situation arises. East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal said the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) has planned to increase the number of beds at its Swami Dayanand Hospital, which is used as a Covid facility. "Since third wave is likely to hit children more, so we are trying to better equip the paediatric department with ventilators and other medical equipment. Besides, we have planned to reserve more platforms at our crematoriums, in case the situation deteriorates," he said. Major crematoriums in east Delhi are at Seemapuri, Karkardooma and Ghazipur. "During the second wave, we had already augmented the number of platforms at these sites to 164 in total from 35 earlier. Besides, we have four CNG-based furnaces, and plan is to add four more, so that more bodies can be cremated in a day," Aggarwal told PTI. In south Delhi, the major cremation sites are at Punjabi Bagh, Dwarka, Rajghat and Tilak Nagar.