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Sisodia takes charge of Delhi health ministry after Satyendar Jain tests positive for Covid-19
Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain’s first Covid-19 test was conducted on Tuesday.
Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has temporarily taken charge of the health ministry and other departments which were under Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain as the latter tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.
Jain’s first covid-19 test, conducted on Tuesday, had shown a negative result, senior government officials said. Officials in the hospital said that he is still on oxygen support.
Besides Jain, AAP MLA Atishi and two other leaders of the party -- Akshay Marathe, an advisor to CM Arvind Kejriwal and Anindita Mathur, an advisor to deputy CM Manish Sisodia -- also tested positive for the viral disease on Wednesday. Party functionaries said swab samples of all three of them were collected on Tuesday after they developed mild symptoms.
All three have been recommended home isolation by doctors and contact tracing have been initiated, said a health department official, adding that their offices have been sanitised too. Delhi government officials said that the health department is yet to initiate tracing contacts of Jain.
On Sunday morning, Jain had attended the meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah along with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia. “Social distancing was strictly adhered to in the meeting but whether others present in the meeting should get tested would depend on what the health officials recommend after the contact tracing exercise,” said a senior government official.
On Tuesday, soon after being admitted to the hospital, Jain had said that he developed the symptoms the previous night. Till Monday, Jain also chaired several meetings and frequented healthcare centres to take stock of covid healthcare management, a senior functionary said.
This comes a week after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tested negative for Covid-19.
