New Delhi|HL
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday announced a number of measures to bring Delhi’s coronavirus situation under control. The Centre has directed the Delhi state government and health authorities to increase Covid-19 tests to more than 100,000 a day from the current 60,000 amid a surge in cases recently.
The decision came after Union home minister Amit Shah chaired a meeting with Health Minister Dr.Harsh Vardhan, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant-Governor Anil Baijal on Sunday.
The measures announced by Shah include, among others, doubling of RT-PCR tests and deployment of mobile testing vans belonging to the Union health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in vulnerable places in the national capital.
Earlier in the month of May the central government took a series of steps with the Delhi government to save the people from the coronavirus. We all witnessed the positive results,” Shah tweeted on Sunday.
The national capital recorded 7,340 fresh Covid-19 cases and 96 new fatalities on Saturday.
The fresh cases were detected through 49,645 tests, including 19,635 RT-PCR and 30,010 rapid-antigen tests conducted on Friday.
The Covid-19 positivity rate in the city was 14.78%, according to the Delhi health department.
The various measures announced by Union minister are :
- RT-PCR testing to be doubled in Delhi
- Mobile testing vans of the Union health ministry and ICMR to be deployed at vulnerable places
- Capacity of hospitals in Delhi and the availability of medical infrastructure to be improved. With regards to this, 250-300 more beds to be provided at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Covid-19 facility in Dhaula Kuan
- To increase the availability of beds with oxygen facilities, 10,000-bed Chhatarpur Covid centre to be further strengthened
- For the treatment of patients showing mild Covid-19 symptoms, some hospitals of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will be converted into dedicated Covid-19 hospitals
- A dedicated multi-department team will visit every private hospital in Delhi to give clear information on the availability of hospital beds
- Previously established containment measures, like marking of containment zones, contact tracing, quarantine and screening, to be reviewed
- To deal with the shortage of healthcare staff in Delhi, extra doctors and paramedical staff from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) to be airlifted to Delhi.
- Centre will provide Delhi government with oxygen cylinders, High Flow Nasal Cannula and other equipment to save as many lives as possible in Delhi
- A solid dialogue strategy should be prepared to educate people on Covid-19 behaviour and its negative impact on medical and health norms in the long run
