Union Home Minister Amit Shah is holding a meeting, the third time in a week, with Delhi Chief Minister and Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal over the current situation of coronavirus in the national capital.
The meeting is being held through a video conference and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is also present.
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The last meeting was held on Thursday when Home Minister reviewed the situation in the National Capital Territory.
Addressing the officials, Shah stressed on the need for increasing the testing rate of Corona through a drive and said that those who are in the contact history of the Corona positives should be isolated. He asked the officials to examine the reasons for mortality rates due to Corona and directed them to prepare an effective strategy to reduce it.
Last Sunday, Shah met Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and health minister Satyendar Jain over the situation in the city. During the meeting, Home Minister had issued a number of directions to contain and manage spiraling cases of the novel coronavirus.
Last Sunday, right before the meeting, the Delhi government 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.
It also directed all such nursing homes to make their beds available in the next three days.
The series of meetings is coming in the backdrop of the Supreme Court slamming the city government over its handling of dead bodies in hospitals stating that it reflected a “very sorry state of affairs” in the national capital amid a spike in Coronavirus cases.
Citing media reports on how bodies lie in hospitals stacked against each other, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court observed that lack of beds in hospitals is an issue of concern.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah had on Thursday taken suo motu cognizance of reports of improper handling of COVID-19 patients and undignified disposal of victims’ bodies in Delhi hospitals.
The bench termed the situation in Delhi as “horrendous, horrific and pathetic” and reproached the Arvind Kejriwal led-government for patients being placed alongside stacks of dead bodies in the hospitals.