Delhi health teams to visit home isolation patients, RT-PCR testing hiked: Key Updates

With 111 coronavirus deaths reported in Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government directs district health teams to visit patients who are in home isolation to ensure that they follow all Covid-19 norms.

The Delhi government has also increased the RT-PCR testing capacity to over 37,000 tests per day.

The national capital on Saturday recorded 5,879 new cases of coronavirus in a span of 24 hours, taking the total count of cases to 5,23,117. Delhi's positivity rate is now 12.90%.

The death toll touched 8,270 as 111 fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours, as per the Delhi government data.

Let's take a look at 5 measures taken by Delhi govt to check Covid-19:

1) At least 411 ICU beds have been added in hospitals run by the Delhi government and the Central government in the last five days. Few days back, the AAP government had announced reservation of 80% of ICU beds in the city's private hospitals for coronavirus patients.

2) The AAP government has directed district officials to visit patients who are in home isolation and ensure that they follow all isolation rules related to Covid-19.

The health department, in an order, stated that contact tracing should be paid proper attention. It should be ensured that the contacts traced are subjected to immediate testing and kept under effective isolation until the test result comes.

3) The Delhi Police on 21 November imposed a fine of ₹2,000 on over 1,300 people till 4 pm in the city, a day after raising the penalty for various violations.

4) To ramp up the coronavirus testing facilities in the Capital, the Indian Council of Medical Research has increased RT-PCR testing capacity from 27,000 tests per day to 37,200 RT-PCR tests per day, the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

5) The AAP government has also issued a notification, saying that spitting and consumption of tobacco in public places, violation of coronavirus quarantine rules, not wearing of masks and not maintaining social distancing would attract a fine of ₹2,000.

With agency inputs