Delhi: Centre to conduct 6 lakh rapid COVID tests; additional ventilators to be provided

The Centre has decided to conduct six lakh rapid antigen COVID-19 tests at 169 new facilities in Delhi, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said on Thursday. The minister said that the Government of India will provide 500 ventilators and 650 ambulances to the Delhi government.

Reddy said that the central government gave Rs 277 crore to the Delhi government for equipments.

"Coronavirus cases in Delhi are increasing. On the directions of PM Modi, 169 rapid antigen detection testing centres have been set up to test everyone residing in the containment zones of Delhi. The centres will provide test results within 30 minutes. 50,000 kits have been provided to these 169 centres so far. The Centre has decided to do testing of six lakh people. These testing kits have been imported from South Korea," Reddy told reporters.

"In every containment zone of Delhi, all people including affected, non-affected, symptomatic or asymptomatic will be tested for free. The Central government will bear the cost of tests," he said.

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'Rapid Antigen Testing Begins In The National Capital; Test Rates Slashed': CM Kejriwal

Providing update over the situation of Coronavirus, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal stated that the Centre on Wednesday capped the price of RT-PCR test in Delhi at Rs. 2,400. Earlier, it used to cost ₹4,500. He added that in a bid to ramp up coronavirus testing facility in the capital, Delhi government is all set to start rapid antigen tests from Thursday.

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COVID-19 situation in Delhi

The deaths from COVID-19 in the city mounted to 1,837 on Tuesday while 1,859 fresh coronavirus cases took the tally in the national capital to over 44,000-mark, according to the health bulletin released by the Delhi government. The death toll from COVID-19 in Delhi stood at 1,400 on Monday.

Ninety-three fatalities have been recorded in the last 24 hours, the Delhi Health Department bulletin said. However, the bulletin also said the cumulative figure included all pending deaths reported to and audited by the Death Audit Committee.

From June 12-14, over 2,000 cases were reported per day in the city. The highest spike of 2,224 fresh cases was recorded on June 14. The bulletin said the death toll from coronavirus infection has climbed to 1,837, and the total number of cases mounted to 44,688

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