Testing to be ramped up in Delhi, says Kejriwal
nNEWDELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said his government is scaling up testing in the national Capital to prevent the community spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). He also announced that the government will start providing ration to non-ration cardholders in its schools from Tuesday.
Addressing the media via digital conferencing, Kejriwal said the Delhi government has placed orders to procure one lakh testing kits, all of which are likely to arrive by Friday.
“We want the maximum number of people to be tested to provide better treatment to the people infected by Covid-19,” he said.
A senior government official said these will be the Covid-19 RT-PCR test kits, which are used for confirmatory tests. “They will not be the rapid antibody testing kits because the ICMR issued the guidelines allowing them only yesterday (Sunday). These will be the PCR (polymerase chain reaction) kits, which require nasal or throat swabs. It takes about five hours for the results of these tests to arrive,” said the official on condition of anonymity.
Kejriwal said 22 new Covid-19 cases have emerged between Sunday and Monday taking the total number of positive cases to 525.
Out of these 22 new cases, nine are linked to the Nizamuddin Markaz, while the others are local transmission and foreign travel-related.
“Of the total 525 cases in Delhi, 329 cases are from Markaz, 168 cases have a history of international travel, seven people have been confirmed dead with one new death in the last 24 hours. Twenty-five people are in the ICU, eight people are on ventilators, and the rest of the patients are in a stable condition,” he said.
The chief minister attributed the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in Delhi to two reasons.
“One reason is the rise in the cases from Markaz. The second reason is that now, we have started getting more testing kits and Delhi’s testing capacity has increased in the last few days. For example, our testing capacity around March 25 was 100-125 people per day, which has increased to 500 people per day after April 1, and is now reaching a capacity of 1,000 tests per day,” he said.
Kejriwal added more tests would ensure that infected people are identified, quarantined, and treated so that the virus does not get transmitted to other people. “Even developed nations, like South Korea, increased their testing capacity to contain the rising cases of Covid-19,” he said.
He also announced that around 10 lakh people will get 5kg ration each for free at 421 schools starting Tuesday. 71 lakh beneficiaries are already getting 7.5kg free ration by the Delhi government.
“The non-ration cardholders will also start receiving ration from tomorrow (Tuesday)in 421 schools. Each person will receive 5kg ration, 4kg wheat and 1kg rice. We have arranged ration for around 10 lakh people initially, and we will procure more from the Centre if needed,” he said.
“I want to appeal to all MLAS, MPS, and councillors to ensure that the distribution places do not get crowded because it will defeat the purpose of social distancing. I also want to request the people to follow social distancing, I assure you that the Delhi government will provide ration to all,” he added.
The government informed that the on Sunday, its 1,800 hunger relief centres served lunch to around 6,90,000 people and dinner to around 6,94,000 people.