Amit Shah made the announcements after a meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said Delhi will be given 500 railway coaches to address the shortage of beds for coronavirus patients. Among a series of measures, it will also receive central help to increase the number of tests conducted, he posted in multiple tweets after a meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today. The meeting, where Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan was also present, took place a couple of days after the Supreme Court pulled up Delhi and several other states over their handling of the pandemic. The national capital has logged nearly 38,000 cases so far. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has said that going by the current doubling rate in the city, 5.5 lakh cases and over 80,000 hospital beds are expected by the end of July, for which Delhi is not adequately prepared.
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"In view of shortage of beds for Corona infected patients in Delhi, the Modi government at the Center has decided to immediately give 500 railway coaches to Delhi. These railway coaches will not only increase 8000 beds in Delhi but this coach will be equipped with all facilities to fight the corona infection," Amit Shah tweeted. The Centre will also supply the necessary resources including random test kits, oxygen cylinders, ventilators, and pulse oximeters to fight this epidemic.
In another tweet, Mr Shah said COVID-19 tests in Delhi will be doubled in the next two days and tripled after six days.Testing will be started at every polling station in each containment zone. The drop in testing from 7,000 to 5,000 a day made headlines last week and the Supreme Court asked the Delhi government to explain the situation "when Chennai and Mumbai have increased their testing from 16,000 to 17,000".
To improve on the contact mapping in the national capital's containment zones, a "comprehensive health survey of every person will be done from house to house", Mr Shah said. The report will come within a week. The capital currently has 219 containment zones.
To help private hospitals deal with coronavirus patients, the Centre will form a committee of senior doctors at Delhi's prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences, which will provide guidance on telephone. The helpline number will be released tomorrow..
A committee under chairmanship of NITI Aayog member Dr. VK Paul will present its report tomorrow on providing 60 per cent of the beds in private hospitals reserved for coronavirus patients at a low rate, fixing treatment and testing costs.
"Extremely productive meeting betn Del govt and Central govt. Many key decisions taken. We will fight against corona together," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.
Delhi currently has a quarter of the 80,000 beds it needs. The Delhi government has said over the coming week, it will add 20,000 beds across the hotels and banquet halls of the city to cope with the expected surge of patients.
Last week, the Arvind Kejriwal government's order to reserve the hospitals it runs for the people of Delhi was scrapped by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, who said treatment "should not be denied to any patient on grounds of being a non-resident".
On Friday, the Supreme Court had pulled up Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Bengal over the handling of the outbreak. "COVID-19 patients are treated worse than animals. In one case, a body was found in the garbage. Patients are dying and nobody is there to even attend to them," the Supreme Court said. The situation in Delhi, it said, was "horrendous, horrific and pathetic".
The national capital has logged nearly 38,000 cases so far. Delhi is at the third position -- after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu -- in terms of cases and recorded more than 2,000 cases for a second consecutive day on Saturday.
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