Hopeful that COVID-19 testing in Delhi will be doubled soon: Satyendar Jain

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday expressed hope that testing for COVID-19 in the national capital will be doubled soon.

Jain had written a letter to Home Ministry on Thursday about "pressure" on Delhi government officials to stall increase in COVID-19 testing for which Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had given instructions. The MHA had strongly refuted the allegation, saying it was "false and baseless."

The ministry also noted that it was after the intervention of the Union Home Minister that the daily tests in Delhi, which were averaging around 4,000 per day till mid-June, 2020, have gone up to around 18-20,000 per day in a calibrated manner.

Jain referred to a meeting held by Arvind Kejriwal on August 26 about the situation related to COVID-19 in the national capital.

"Delhi Chief Minister gave instructions to double the COVID-19 testing but due to pressure from the Home Ministry, officials were not doing so. I am happy that after my letter, MHA has given clarification into the matter and I am hopeful that testing will be doubled soon," Jain said.

"Home Ministry should first see COVID-19 cases in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and rest of India, then talk about managing Delhi. This is unfortunate that despite Delhi CM's approval for doubling the testing, the order had to be cleared by MHA also," he added.

Jain said that the total count of cases in Delhi was 1,67,604 of which 150,027 have recovered. Almost 90 per cent of the affected people have recovered in the national capital, he said.

( With inputs from ANI )