Centre to conduct 6 lakh rapid antigen COVID-19 tests in Delhi, to provide 500 ventilators, says MoS Home

New Delhi: The Centre has decided to conduct six lakh rapid antigen COVID-19 testing at 169 new facilities in Delhi, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said on Thursday.

The minister said that the Government of India will provide 500 ventilators and 650 ambulances to the Delhi government. “Coronavirus cases in Delhi are increasing. On the directions of PM Modi, 169 rapid antigen detection testing centres have been set up to test everyone residing in the containment zones of Delhi.

The centres will provide test results within 30 minutes. 50,000 kits have been provided to these 169 centres so far. The Centre has decided to do testing of six lakh people. These testing kits have been imported from South Korea,” Reddy told reporters here.

“In every containment zone of Delhi, all people including affected, non-affected, symptomatic or asymptomatic will be tested for free. The Central government will bear the cost of tests,” he said.

“Currently, there are 431 ventilators in Delhi. The Centre has also decided to give 500 ventilators to the Delhi government. There are 350 ambulances in Delhi. Additional 650 ambulances will be provided by the Centre to Delhi government,” the minister said.

Reddy said that the central government gave Rs 277 crore to the Delhi government for equipment.

“Over 7.32 lakh N95 masks have been provided to the Delhi government. 25 lakh HCQ tablets have also been given. 4.41 lakh PPE Kits have also been provided,” he said.

Reddy visited the Vasant Gaon, R K Puram and Narayana testing centres for monitoring and assessing the ground situation of COVID-19

Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with senior officials of Delhi-NCR, over the COVID-19 situation. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was also present in the meeting.

2,414 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours

Delhi on Wednesday witnessed the highest single-day spike of 2,414 COVID-19 cases. In a bulletin, the Kejriwal government informed that there are 47,102 positive cases in the Union Territory.

“With 2,414 COVID-19 positive cases on Wednesday, the total number of cases in the national capital reached 47,102 including 27,741 active cases,” Govt. said in the bulletin.

67 deaths were recorded on Wednesday, taking the total death toll to 1,904. A total of 17,457 patients in Delhi have recovered, been discharged or have migrated. (ANI)