Steps to augment testing capacity should be taken immediately: Delhi LG to Health Department

Delhi Lieutenant Governor l Baijal on Friday instructed the health department that the steps required to augment testing capacity should be taken immediately.He advised field officials to delineate containment zones properly to ensure their effective management.Baijal instructed field officials to adopt strict perimeter control measures, carry out active house-to-house surveillance and trace contacts extensively as per guidelines of MoHFW and MHA.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor l Baijal on Friday instructed the health department that the steps required to augment testing capacity should be taken immediately.

Baijal reviewed the status of COVID-19 management in Delhi through video conference with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Msh Sisodia, Health Minister Satyendar Jain and other officials of the government.

"The Lt Governor instructed the health department to develop an action plan to convert red zones into orange to green zones and handhold field machineries in maintaining the green zones. He also instructed that the steps required to augment testing capacity should be taken immediately. He further instructed for extensive testing as per guidelines and ensure faster results of tests in a time-bound manner," said a press release from the Raj Niwas.

Baijal further directed to provide protective gears to all frontline workers who are performing their duties at vulnerable places especially the containment zones.

"At the outset, Secretary (Health) made a detailed presentation on the status of COVID-19 management in Delhi. Secretary (Health) presented a detailed analysis of the spatial distribution of COVID-19 cases, containment zones and ward wise mapping of red, orange and green zones. It was informed that Delhi recovery rate is higher than the rest of the country and Delhi has almost conducted six times more test than the national average per million population," the release said.

The Lieutenant Governor directed all stakeholders for scaling up their efforts to rein in the COVID-19 outbreak. He advised field officials to delineate containment zones properly to ensure their effective management.

Baijal instructed field officials to adopt strict perimeter control measures, carry out active house-to-house surveillance and trace contacts extensively as per guidelines of MoHFW and MHA. He also advised narrowing down of containment zones into micro containment zones for effective management.

He further directed for extensive surveillance for cases through monitoring of ILI/SARI cases in buffer zones too. He urged people to cooperate with the administration and follow the health and administrative advisories in letter and spirit to contain the spread of the virus and breaking the chain.

The Lieutenant Governor also urged the residents to use the Aarogya Setu mobile application for prevention and contact tracing.

( With inputs from ANI )