Union home secy to review Covid-19 situation in Delhi amid surge in daily cases

New Delhi,Oct 31: Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla will on Monday review the coronavirus situation in Delhi, which has seen a sudden spike in cases, officials said.

Top officials of the Union Health Ministry and the Delhi government will attend the meeting.

The union home secretary will review the Covid-19 situation in Delhi on Monday as part of the regular review of all Union Territories on a rotational basis, a home ministry official said.

The meeting is going to be held amidst the rising cases of coronavirus in Delhi. On Friday, the national capital recorded the highest single-day rise of 5,891 Covid-19 cases, taking Delhi's tally of infection to over 3.81 lakh.

This was the third consecutive day when over 5,000 cases were reported in a day in Delhi. On Thursday, the city recorded 5,739 cases of coronavirus infection.

The national capital also recorded 47 new fatalities on Friday, pushing the death toll to 6,470.

In June, when Covid-19 cases were on the rise in Delhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah swung into action after criticism in different quarters over the Delhi government's handling of the crisis.

At that time there were complaints of non-availability of beds in hospitals for patients and difficulty in getting tests done.

Leading from the front, the home minister ensured increased testing facilities and more hospital beds for patients by setting up temporary hospitals and Covid care centres.

A committee, set up by Shah, also fixed the rates for testing, private hospital beds, ICUs and isolation beds.

On June 18, at a meeting, the home minister had said a common strategy should be framed for Delhi and NCR to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and added that the suburbs like Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad can't be separated from the national capital in this battle.

The sudden spike in Covid-19 cases comes amid festivities and rising air pollution. While Durga Puja celebrations ended on October 25, the next major festivals are Diwali and Chhath in November.

The National Centre for Disease Control in a report drafted recently had warned that Delhi needs to be prepared for about 15,000 fresh cases of Covid-19 per day taking into account the upcoming winter season-related respiratory problems, a large influx of patients from outside and festive gatherings.

The number of tests done per million, till Thursday, was over 2.44 lakh while the total number of tests stood at over 46 lakh. The number of people in home isolation rose to 19,064 compared to 18,069 the previous day.