COVID-19 tests will be doubled in Delhi now, then by three times

(Right to left) Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia and Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain attend a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah (unseen) to discuss the COVID-19 situation, at North Block in New Delhi, on Sunday.

With COVID-19 cases increasing alarmingly, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday announced that its testing will be doubled in Delhi in the next two days and subsequently increased by three times.

Announcing a slew of measures to check the spread of the Coronavirus infection in the national capital after he held a meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Shah said that COVID-19 tests will be started at every polling station in Containment Zones and a comprehensive house-to-house health survey will be conducted in the hotspots for contact tracing.

In view of shortage of beds for Coronavirus- infected patients in Delhi, the Modi government has decided to immediately provide 500 railway coaches which will be equipped with all facilities, he said. Shah said a joint team of doctors of the Union Health Ministry, Delhi government-s health department, AIIMS and the three municipal corporations of Delhi will visit all COVID-designated hospitals in the capital and prepare a report after inspecting the health systems and preparedness Shah also ordered the immediate transfer of four IAS officers to the Delhi government and attachment of another two from the Centre to help in the fight.

For third day in a row, India records over 10,000 cases

India saw the highest single-day spike of 11,929 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the number of infections to over 3.20 lakh on Sunday, while the toll crossed the 9,000 mark with 311 more deaths, the Health Ministry said.

This is the third day in a row there were more than 10,000 cases of COVID-19 in India, which is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic. There are 1,49,348 active COVID-19 cases, while 1,62,378 people have recovered and a patient has migrated. The total confirmed Coronavirus cases rose to 3,20,922, including 9,195 deaths, according to the ministry data updated in the morning. The number of recoveries are more than the active cases as 50.60 per cent of the patients have recovered so far, an official said. As many as 113 out of the 311 more deaths were from Maharashtra, followed by 57 in Delhi, 33 in Gujarat and 30 in Tamil Nadu.

-Cancel Std X, XII board exams-

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, parents say they are worried about the pending Std X and XII board exams by CBSE and CICSE scheduled from July 1, and demand that they be scrapped and the result be declared by either calculating the average of tests already conducted or based on an internal assessment.

-Lockdown will not be re-imposed-

Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Sunday said there was no question of re-imposition of the lockdown amid speculation that it would be done.
"The question of lockdown is not in front of us. There is such speculation as the Prime Minister is holding a video conference with all chief ministers on June 16 and 17. On June 17, our state will be taking part in it around 3 pm," Sudhakar said in response to a question. Speaking to the media at Kalaburagi, he said the current situation would be discussed in the meeting.

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