Delhi Government Doing Aggressive Testing, Aim Is Not To Leave Untraced Cases: Health Minister Satyendar Jain

New Delhi: Amid the sudden surge in COVID-19 cases in the national capital, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Monday (August 31) that the Kejriwal government was doing “aggressive testing” and the aim was to ensure no case was left untraced. The Minister asserted that the government had sufficient stock of COVID-19 testing kits for 10-15 days. However, the Delhi government was not procuring kits from the Centre and rather buying them from the market to meet the target of 40,000 tests per day.

Also Read: Delhi Opens Post-COVID Clinic For Recovered Patients, Here’s How It Will Help

Speaking to the reporters here Mr Jain said,

The Delhi government is paying more attention to the testing. The best way to contain the virus is testing, tracing and isolation, so we are working on it.

“We have increased the time to conduct tests in government dispensaries and hospitals where the tests are free. The test will be done for five hours in the dispensaries and time has been increased in the government hospitals too,” he said.

Emphasising on conducting 40,000 tests per day in Delhi, Mr Jain said,

We have sufficient stock of COVID-19 testing kits for 10-15 days. We are not taking testing kits from the Centre but we are buying them from the market. Like the Union Health Minister had said, we also hope COVID-19 ends till Diwali.

He further said that in terms of COVID-19 spread, Delhi stands at “comfort level” and the doubling rate of the virus is above 80 days.

On August 26, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that coronavirus testing in the national capital will be doubled from around 20,000 tests daily to 40,000 while highlighting that there has been a marginal increase in the COVID-19 cases during the last few days.

According to the Union Health Ministry, there are 14,793 COVID-19 active cases in Delhi while 1,54,171 people have been cured and 4,426 people have died due to the virus.

Also Read: Marginal Increase In COVID-19 Cases In Delhi, Testing To Be Doubled: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.