Coronavirus tests to be doubled in two days, triple in six days

New Delhi : Union Home Minister Amit Shah met Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and LG Anil Baijal on Sunday to talk about the current ongoing situation of coronavirus in the national capital. After the meeting, he announced a series of steps.

He announced door-to-door survey in containment zones for contact tracing and promised the city 500 railway coaches having a capacity of 8,000 beds to treat Covid-19 patients to mitigate any possible shortage of beds.

He hinted aggressive testing in the national capital as more than 2000 cases are increasing since last couple of days.

“To prevent the coronavirus infection in Delhi, testing will be doubled in the next two days, and after six days the testing will be increased to three times...Also, after a few days, testing will be started at every polling station in the containment zones,” Shah said in a series of tweets in Hindi after the first meeting.

The meeting was attended by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, officials of the home and health ministries and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.

Amit Shah also asked medical facilities to provide 60% of COVID-19 beds at cheaper prices; this comes after reports of healthcare facilities charging massive fees on beds for coronavirus patients.

Amidst a flurry of activities on Sunday, the Centre also transferred four senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers --- Awanish Kumar and Monica Priyadarshini from Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Gaurav Singh Rajawat and Vikram Singh Mallik from Arunachal Pradesh --- to help the city-state manage the Covid-19 situation. The government also directed the attachment of two senior IAS officers – SCL Das and SS Yadav -- from the Centre to Delhi.