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Amit Shah steps up Delhi’s Covid battle, says triple testing in 6 days

Kejriwal called the meeting “extremely productive”. “Many key decisions taken. We will fight against corona together,” he said on Twitter.

Updated on: Jun 14, 2020, 16:52:37 IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
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Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday held an important meeting on the Covid-19 situation in Delhi, which has been seeing a huge spike in the number of cases.

Union home minister Amit Shah and health minister Harsh Vardhan hold a meeting with Lt Gen Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Covid-19 situation in Delhi on Sunday., (ANI Photo)
Union home minister Amit Shah and health minister Harsh Vardhan hold a meeting with Lt Gen Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Covid-19 situation in Delhi on Sunday., (ANI Photo)

Health minister Harsh Vardhan, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and officials of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) were present in the meeting.

Shah announced the details of the meeting on Twitter where he said that the Centre has decided to send 500 railway coaches to the Delhi government in view of the shortage of beds to treat Covid-19 patients in the national capital. “These coaches will not only provide 8,000 extra bends, but will also be equipped with everything to fight the Covid-19 infection,” Shah tweeted in Hindi.

He also assured all help in providing oxygen cylinders, ventilators, pulse oxymetres and other essential equipment to Delhi government. Shah also said that five senior officials from the central government will be deployed to Delhi to help the state government tackle the crisis.

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“Health care workers will go to every house in the containment zone for effective contact mapping. The results will be out in a week. All the people living int he containment zones will be asked to download the Aarogya Setu app. The number of samples which are being tested will be doubled in the next two days. Int he next six days, it will be increased three-fold,” Shah said in a series of tweets.

He also said that Centre has decided to form a panel of senior doctors at AIIMS to provide telephonic guidance to smaller hospitals on Covid-19. The helpline number will be released tomorrow.

The home minister also announced that the government will release fresh guidelines for cremating those who died due to Covid-19.

He further said that volunteers from Scout Guides, NCC, NSS and other organisations will be roped in to help fight against the coronavirus disease.

Kejriwal called the meeting “extremely productive”. “Many key decisions taken. We will fight against corona together,” he said on Twitter.

On Saturday, Delhi added 2,134 new coronavirus disease cases, the second highest number of cases it has added in a 24-hour period (the highest was on Friday, 2,137).

With the fresh spike in cases, Delhi’s tally crossed the 36,000-mark, and the death toll due to the disease climbed to 1,214.

It was the second consecutive day when the number of reported cases breached the 2,000-mark. On Friday, Delhi had witnessed 2,137 cases,the highest single-day spike in the national capital.

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