With Delhi witnessing an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has decided to curtail operation theatre services from Saturday and perform only urgent surgeries.
“Only urgent procedures or surgeries will be taken up in various operation theatres of AIIMS with effect from 10th April, Saturday, in view of COVID-19 prevention and control,” the premier hospital said in a statement.
The walk-in OPD registration at the hospital has been temporarily suspended from Thursday.
According to an All India Radio report, various departments have also been asked to fix the daily limit of new and follow-up patients coming through the online registration.
Earlier this year, the AIIMS had resumed non-emergency surgeries, which were suspended when the country went into a lockdown last year.
The national capital recorded 7,437 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Thursday in the highest single-day spike this year. The city also reported 24 new fatalities, taking the death toll to 11,157.
The positivity rate also mounted to 8.1 per cent from 6.1 per cent the previous day, as the massive spike in cases witnessed over the past few weeks continues.
The daily case count for the past two days was also above 5,000. The number of active cases rose to 23,181 on Thursday from 19,455 a day before.
The number of cumulative cases on Thursday stood at 6,98,005. Over 6.63 lakh patients have recovered from the virus
The number of people under home isolation increased to 11,367 from 10,048 on Wednesday while the number of containment zones mounted to 4,226 from 3,708 a day before, according to the Health Department.
