Delhi government forms task force to tackle coronavirus threat

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday set up a state-level task force to take preventive measures against the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19)

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday set up a state-level task force to take preventive measures against the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the national capital.

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The task force has representatives from all agencies concerned, including municipal corporations and the Delhi police.

Kejriwal said people coming from four countries — Italy, Iran, South Korea, and Japan — were being screened and schools have been asked to conduct intensive awareness drives on the Do’s and Don’ts to limit the spread of the virus.

The government also said that out of the 5,700 people who arrived in the city from affected countries in the past few days, over 1,300 people are yet to be examined for symptoms. Kejriwal said his government is making efforts to reach out to them.

Hours after constituting the task force, Kejriwal, who is heading the panel, took its first meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

“There is no need to panic. But the situation needs to be contained. In the meeting, I told every agency that this needs to be treated as a health emergency because this particular virus spreads very quickly and if it is not contained in the beginning,” Kejriwal said after the meeting.

The chief minister said the resident of Mayur Vihar, who has tested positive for the virus, is being treated at Safdarjung hospital.

“We have identified 88 people who came in contact with the infected Delhi man after he arrived in Delhi after touring Vienna, Budapest and Italy. We are reaching out to these 88 people and will screen them,” he said.

On the steps being taken to contain the spread, Kejriwal said passengers arriving at Delhi airport are being screened with thermal scanners. Any person showing slight symptoms is being referred to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital, he said.

“So far, 1,16,589 passengers have been screened at the Delhi airport. In the last few days, 5,769 passengers, who are residents of Delhi, arrived in the national capital from the four affected countries. Out of these, 4,445 passengers did not show any symptoms when checked. We have not been able to contact the remaining 1,324 passengers yet, though our teams are continuously trying,” Kejriwal said.

“Even those who did not show any symptoms during the screening at the airport are being tracked since in many cases it has been seen that the signs of the virus start showing after 14 days or more. So, everyone on the list is under surveillance,” he said.

All the three municipal corporations and the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) are conducting checks in all hotels and guest houses in the city to reach out to tourists who came from affected countries. Such tourists also are being thoroughly screened for any signs of COVID-19 (coronavirus).

The chief minister said there were two laboratories — one in AIIMS and another in National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)— to test for coronavirus and a third lab would be in place at Lady Hardinge hospital by the evening.

“Each of the two labs can test 250 samples every day…. If needed another (fourth) laboratory will be opened at LNJP hospital,” Kejriwal said.

On Tuesday, the Delhi government had made RML and Safdarjung hospitals the nodal hospitals for the government’s programme against the virus. It has also readied isolation wards in 25 hospitals, out of which 19 are government and six are private hospitals. “The education department has been told to create awareness among children. Because exams are going on, we have not yet decided if schools need to be shut. But if needed, we will do so. The task force will meet frequently and fix accountability of agencies apart from monitoring the situation in the city,” the CM said.