Published 19:54 IST, August 28th 2020
MHA gave nod to double COVID-19 testing in Delhi: Satyendra Jain amid row
CM had given instructions to double COVID-19 testing but due to the pressure from the Home Ministry, officials were not doing so, said Satyendar Jain
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had given instructions to double COVID-19 testing but due to the pressure from the Home Ministry, officials were not doing so, said Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, adding that now the MHA has given a nod to double testing in the national capital.
"Delhi Chief Minister gave instructions to double the COVID-19 testing but due to pressure from the Home Ministry, officials were not doing so. I am happy that after my letter, MHA has clarified and cleared it and I am hopeful that testing will be doubled soon," said Jain. "Home Ministry should first see COVID-19 cases in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and rest of India, then talk about managing Delhi. This is unfortunate that despite Delhi CM's approval for doubling the testing, the order had to be cleared by MHA also," he added.
On Thursday, the MHA dismissed the Jain’s allegation that there is pressure on government officers to not increase the COVID-19 testing in the national capital. This comes amid Kejriwal’s order that the daily testing should be doubled from 20,000 to 40,000 tests within a week’s time. The MHA recalled that the daily tests averaging around 4000 till mid-June have gone up to 20,000 per day only after the intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Highlighting that the COVID-19 situation in Delhi has improved due to enhanced testing and other containment measures, the MHA also commented on a note of Delhi government officers annexed by Satyendar Jain. The Ministry clarified that this note had no mention of any instruction from the MHA pertaining to the testing level in the national capital.
According to the MHA, the note only proposed that the views of the Expert Committee headed by Dr. VK Paul should be taken into consideration while enhancing the testing. At present, there are 12,520 active cases in Delhi while 1,48,897 patients have been discharged and 4,347 fatalities have been reported.
Delhi recorded 1,840 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the highest single-day spike in August in the city, taking the tally to over 1.67 lakh, while the death toll mounted to 4,369, authorities said. The Health Minister informed that so far 167,604 people have been infected, out of which 150,027 have recovered. Almost 90 per cent of the people have been recovered across the national capital, he added.
(With ANI inputs)
Updated 19:54 IST, August 28th 2020