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‘Together we have to make Delhi coronavirus-free’: Amit Shah on capital’s crisis
The home minister during today’s meeting directed the Delhi government, all three Mayors and the three municipal corporations of the city to work together and implement the decisions taken in the first meeting held earlier on Sunday morning.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that the Centre and the Delhi government would have to work in tandem to make the country as well as the national capital healthy and coronavirus free under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shah was chairing a meeting, his second today, to review the Covid-19 health crisis in the national capital which has been reporting a surge in coronavirus cases.
The home minister during today’s meeting directed the Delhi government, all three Mayors and the three municipal corporations of the city to work together and implement the decisions taken in the first meeting held earlier on Sunday morning.
“The Modi government is determined to prevent the coronavirus infection in Delhi. To stop the spread of the virus, testing will be doubled in the next two days and after six days the testing will be increased three-fold. Subsequently, after a few days, every polling station in the containment zones will be covered for testing,” Shah said in a tweet earlier today.
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Shah also directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to ensure all guidelines to curb the spread of Covid-19 are enforced strictly in the national capital. The Delhi Police report directly to the Home Ministry.
On Sunday, in compliance with orders of the home minister, the Union Health Ministry too directed that bodies of suspected Covid-19 victims in Delhi should be handed over to their relatives immediately without waiting for any kind of lab confirmation on their test results. The Supreme Court had, two days ago, termed the condition of Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital as “pathetic” and its wards as ‘deplorable’.
Earlier on Sunday, Amit Shah met Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal along with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria to discuss the Covid-19 management in Delhi. The meeting, described as a ‘productive one’ was helmed by the home minister.
The Centre, too on Sunday announced a slew of measures to control the spread of coronavirus in Delhi, which included carrying out a comprehensive door-to-door health survey in all containment zones, doubling of tests in next two days followed by a three-fold increase within a week’s time.
Unable to keep up with the rising number of coronavirus cases, the Delhi government had asked the Indian Railways to allocate isolation coaches for Covid-19 patients of the national capital. At least, 500 railway coaches with a capacity of 8,000 beds have been allocated for Delhi. Private hospitals, too, have been told to earmark 60% of beds for Covid-19 affected patients at lesser rates.
The Centre has also promised to provide the Delhi government with all necessary medical resources like oxygen cylinders, ventilators, and all other equipment to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
