Union Minister Amit Shah on Sunday attached six Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers to the Delhi government to assist in COVID-19 management following a a major meeting with Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Kejriwal in the presence of members of the State Disaster Management Authority, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, Commissioners of three Municipal Corporations and senior officers from the Union Home and Health Ministries.
The order comes amid a worrying spike of infections and deaths due to the novel Coronavirus in the national capital.
Senior IAS officers SCL Das and SS Yadav have been attached to the Delhi government, along with Awanish Kumar and Monica Priyadarshini from Andaman and Nicobar, and Gaurav Singh Rajawat and Vikram Singh Mallik from Arunachal Pradesh.
Amit Shah also instructed immediate transfer of Kumar, Priyadarshini, Rajawat and Mallik to New Delhi.
It was also decided in the meeting that the Centre will give five more senior officers to the Delhi government to fight the coronavirus infection vigorously.
Shah held the meeting at his North Block office around 11 am to take stock of the novel Coronavirus situation in Delhi where 1,327 people have so far died and 41,182 people have been infected.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has called an all-party meeting today to “review management of COVID-19 situation” in Delhi.
The meetings come in the backdrop of the Supreme Court slamming the Delhi government terming the Coronavirus situation in the national capital as “horrendous, horrific and pathetic”.
Meanwhile, at the Sunday meeting, the Centre directed the Delhi government to double COVID-19 testing in the next three days and triple it in six days. The national capital saw a drop in testing from 7,000 to 5,000 per day and was reprimanded by the Supreme Court for the same on Friday.
The Centre has also decided to provide 500 railway coaches equipped with facilities for Coronavirus patients to tackle the shortage of beds in COVID-19 hospitals in the national capital.
Amit Shah also announced that for proper contact mapping in Delhi’s 219 containment zones, a door to door comprehensive health survey of every person will be conducted and the report will come within a week.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has declared that all small and multi-speciality nursing homes with 10-49 beds will now be treated as “COVID-19 nursing homes,” to increase the bed capacity for coronavirus patients.
The city government said that over the coming week, it will add 20,000 beds by utilising the the hotels and banquet halls of the city to fulfill the deficit of the beds for Coronavirus patients in the city.
Delhi on Monday saw a spike of 2,224 cases and 56 deaths in last 24 hours taking the total number of infections to 41,182 and fatalities to 1,327.