Delhi to conduct 40K tests per day to check COVID spike: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday (August 26) announced that the government will double the number of COVID-19 tests to 40,000 per day within a week, in light of a swift rise in cases in the past one week.

“For the past one-and-a-half months, the COVID situation in Delhi has been under control. There have been fewer cases, deaths and the recovery rate is improving. But the cases have seen a rise in the past few days, especially after August 17. Our yesterday’s bulletin had more than 1,500 cases and the figure has increased to 1,693 cases today. We don’t want the condition to aggravate,” Kejriwal said in a virtual press conference.

He said to check the infection from spreading, the government has issued directions for stringent enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines, adding that everyone should wear face mask and maintain social distancing at public places.

Stating that the recovery rate of the national capital is more than 90 per cent and the death rate in August alone has come down to 1.4 per cent, Kejriwal said the government plans to achieve zero death rate in the coming days.

He said the government has a total of 14,130 COVID beds and of those, 10,448 are vacant.
“Only 3,700 COVID beds have so far been occupied by coronavirus patients and of these, 2,900 are occupied by Delhiites and 800 by those from other states,” Kejriwal said.

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He asserted that no death of any COVID-19 patient, who is under home isolation, has been reported in Delhi since July 14.

Delhi which a month ago was third in the list of states recording the maximum number of coronavirus cases, has improved by going down the list and bringing its tally to 164,071 cases.