Over 92 per cent of COVID-19 patients who attended yoga classes while in home-isolation witnessed immediate improvement in overall symptoms, according to an impact study conducted by the Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University (DPSRU).

The Delhi government has been offering free online yoga classes to COVID-19 patients recuperating in home-isolation. At least 88.9 per cent of them said they found improvement in breathing issues after they started attending the sessions, the study claimed.

"The findings of the impact study on COVID-19 patients show that people have accepted our initiative to make yoga a part of everyday life wholeheartedly. During Covid, patients needed a healing touch to recover fast physically as well as psychologically. Most of the patients were suffering from a feeling of loneliness during the isolation, and our yoga instructors became their companions during that time," Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.

The minister added that providing customised yoga classes to COVID-19 patients was an extended component of the Arvind Kejriwal government's initiative "Dilli Ki Yogshala", and more than 4,600 patients reaped the benefit of this.

DPSRU Vice-Chancellor Ramesh K Goyal claimed that patients got relief from COVID-19 symptoms like cough, cold, breathlessness etc within five-seven days days of attending the classes.

"I attended the online classes while I was infected. I had a tremendous experience during these classes. The instructor not only assisted me in doing yoga but also checked my sleeping patterns and advised me on that. I had an issue of hypertension, which was also taken care of by the instructor. Now, yoga has become a part of my routine," said 57-year-old Narayan Kinarkar, a resident of Mahipalpur.?