Amit Shah, Harsh Vardhan to meet Kejriwal, Delhi LG to discuss COVID crisis

Union home minister Amit Shah and Union minister for health Dr Harsh Vardhan will hold a meeting with Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and others at 11 am on Sunday (June 13) to review the COVID-19 situation in the national capital.

The meeting comes in the wake of rising cases of the infection in Delhi, which touched the 36,000-mark. The pandemic has so far claimed more than 1,200 lives in the capital.

“Home Minister, Shri @AmitShah and Health Minister, @drharshvardhan to hold meeting with @LtGovDelhi, CM Delhi & members of SDMA to review situation in the capital regarding COVID-19 tomorrow, 14th June at 11 am. Director AIIMS and other senior officers would also be present,” Shah’s office tweeted.

According to the tweet by the home minister’s office, members of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) will also attend the meeting.

Shah and Kejriwal had already met at Shah’s residence earlier this week, a day after the Chief Minister tested negative for the virus.

Kejriwal had tweeted after the meeting that the Home Minister had “assured all cooperation”.

The Supreme Court on Friday (June 12) pulled up the Delhi government over the “horrendous, horrific and pathetic” situation in the national capital.

The court said COVID-19 patients were being treated “worse than animals”, referring to the instance where a body was moved using a garbage van.

The apex court also sought an explanation on the reduction in coronavirus testing in the city from the Arvind Kejriwal government. “Why has your testing gone down from 7,000 to 5,000 a day when Chennai and Mumbai have increased their testing from 16,000 to 17,000?” the court questioned.

Requests for coronavirus tests cannot be denied, the top court announced, adding that the “procedure can be simplified so that more tests are done”.