New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the state government will double the testing for Covid-19 infection in the national capital. The announcement came as Delhi recorded a rise in the number of new cases of the coronavirus disease. The chief minister said that currently, 20,000 tests are being done in Delhi which will be increased to 40,000 per day.
Delhi on Tuesday recorded 1,544 new cases of Covid-19, the highest single-day increase in the city in 40 days. After a drop in cases in the past few weeks, infections in Delhi have started rising again, which may cause a resurgence of the outbreak. Mr Kejriwal pointed out that the recovery rate in the city was over 90 per cent, as opposed to the national average of around 76 per cent, and that no Covid-linked death had been reported from patients undergoing home isolation since July 14.
Mr Kejriwal also laid stress on the readiness of medical infrastructure in Delhi, with special emphasis on availability of hospital beds. In June, when the city was reporting between 2,000 and 3,000 cases per day, patients were struggling to be admitted in hospitals. Of the occupied beds, Mr Kejriwal went on to say, only 2,900 were occupied by Delhi residents. The rest, he said, had been given to people from other states and travellers returning to the country under the Vande Bharat Mission.
At the end of June, the city was reporting over 3,400 cases every day at an average, which then dropped in the 900s in the first week of August. In the last week, Delhi has added 1,333 cases every day on average – the highest the weekly case trajectory has touched since July 21.
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