A series of decisions taken by the Centre, a key focus area will be the containment zones, where testing will be made available in polling booths
NEW DELHI| On Sunday Union Health Minister Harsh Vardan, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, L-G Anil Bajaj, and CM Arvind Kejriwal chaired a meeting to review the situation of Delhi in term of Coronavirus. Amit Shah announced a series of decisions taken at the meeting, including doubling of testing immediately in the next two days and tripling it in the next six days.
Shah also said the centre will provide 500 railway coaches to Delhi in view of the storage of beds for COVID-19 patients in the state. The coaches will add 8,000 beds to the existing strength of beds in Delhi and will have all the facilities and equipment to treat the coronavirus patients.
A series of decisions taken by the Centre, a key focus area will be the containment zones, where testing will be made available in polling booths in the next week. House to house surveys will also be conducted in these high-risk areas to improve contact tracing and the report will be submitted in a week.
Centre also made it compulsory to download Aarogya Setu App in phones of all residents in these containment zones to improve contact tracing.
Apart from Centre has also said that 60% of all beds in private hospitals will be made available at reduced rates. A committee headed by Dr VK Paul will look at the issue of treatment rates and price of testing in private hospitals and will submit its report by Monday.
The decisions are taken t the meeting addresses some of the key complaints that have been raised against the Kejriwal’s government handling of the health crisis. There have been several complaints of non-availability of beds in hospitals for patients and difficulty in getting the tests done in laboratories. The contact tracing in Delhi has also lagged behind other states.
To oversee the response in Delhi, the Centre has also deputed five senior officers from to help Delhi government tide over the crisis. Along with this, five senior doctors from AIIMS will form a teleguidance committee to handhold smaller hospitals which have been converted into Covid-19 hospitals.
Officials said coordinated efforts will be emphasised by the HM in his meeting with the Delhi mayors too this evening.
Delhi is the third-most affected in the country after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, added 2,134 new coronavirus disease cases on Sunday, taking its total count to 38,958 including 22,742 active cases and 1,271 fatalities.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
