The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious viral disease that is caused by a string of the coronavirus known as the SARS-Cov-2. The first known case was discovered in late 2019 from Wuhan, China. The disease is highly infectious and has caused a global pandemic with over 56,000 infections and 1886 deaths in India as of May 8, 2020. Globally, nearly 4 million people have been infected and 270,000 have tragically died. The cases are continuing to rise globally, especially in India.
In view of the COVID19 crisis and at the request of Indian Government’s think-tank, Niti Aayog and theGovernment of National Capital Territory of Delhi, India (GNCTD), SLF has been supporting the city ofDelhi with the on-ground as well as the policy response to the crisis. SLF’s efforts have helpedstrengthen Government’s ambulance response mechanisms, testing strategy, procurement processes,and disease containment strategy. This has directly contributed to keeping Delhi’s COVID fatality rate at1.55%1 of detected cases as compared to the Indian national average of 3.25% and the global averageof 7.1%. Our five-pronged approach to COVID response includes,
• Developed a tool to estimate the number of ICU beds, ventilators, ambulances, isolation facilities and PPE kits required over the chosen number of days and predicted infections
• Developed a COVID Disease Registry that can generate more than four dozen insights through the intake of 33 data items from COVID designated hospitals and testing centres
• Developed a protocol and a system to pre-emptively identify vulnerable senior citizens and insulate them from the threat of COVID-19
• Developed a tool to gauge the effectiveness of ambulance response and actioned, based on that, reforms necessary to improve overall responsiveness
• Arranged over 10,000 PPE kits for frontline health workers
• Arranged 80,000 meals for the needy affected by the national lockdown
• Providing bus transport to fetch and ferry migrant workers found walking on highways
• Helped arrange 60 additional ambulances for the City of Delhi
• Provided 100 sanitisation machines for ambulances carrying COVID+ve patients
• Provided essential supplies to COVID Care Centres and hospitals
• Providing home-quarantine tele-medicine support (outsourced) to 500 COVID+ve cases
• SLF is currently providing more than 100 hours/week of data-science and analytics support to GNCTD including the CM’s war-room to enable informed policy response to the crisis
• Assisted the Department of Health with policy research and recommendations on guidelines for PPE Kits and COVID-19 testing
• In order to prevent COVID infections due to improper removal of PPE gear after dealing with patients, SLF developed a video tutorial on how to safely wear and remove PPE gear. The tutorial has been circulated to over 10,000 healthcare and sanitation staff in Delhi
• Developing IEC materials for senior citizens to be pushed out through the Government broadcast mechanism to keep the most vulnerable population (age 60+ and those with comorbidities) safe from contracting the disease
To make a contribution to aid our efforts to save lives from COVID-19, or for more information on our interventions, please
contact us on [email protected]