Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday will hold an all-party meeting to discuss the escalating coronavirus crisis in the Capital and the measures required to contain its outbreak, PTI reported.
The meeting will be held after the one between the State Disaster Management Authority and officials of the Delhi government, which has been convened to ascertain whether the city has entered the stage of community transmission of Covid-19.
The SDMA, or the State Disaster Management Authority is the key body involved in decision-making at the time of a natural disaster, contingency or any other crisis. It is headed by the lieutenant-governor, whose deputy is the chief minister.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will attend the meeting on behalf of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is unwell and is likely to be tested for the coronavirus. On Monday, Sisodia said the Delhi government will completely overhaul its strategy to tackle the outbreak if the community spread of the virus is confirmed.
Delhi is one of the worst-affected regions in the country. Till Tuesday morning, it had reported 29,943 infections, including 874 deaths. The city has been reporting over 1,000 infections every day for several days now.
Baijal issued an order on Monday directing the state government to test asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of confirmed cases of the coronavirus, saying that not doing so was a violation of the guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research. Earlier in the day, Baijal issued another order prohibiting the reservation of state-run hospitals, and some private ones, for residents of the city. Baijal directed the government and medical authorities in the national Capital to ensure that treatment was not denied to anybody on the grounds that they were not residents of the city.
This order too, was in contravention of the AAP government’s decision to not allow non-residents of Delhi to be admitted to these hospitals. Kejriwal said that Baijal’s order had created a huge challenge for the Delhi government, which is already struggling to control the escalating coronavirus crisis.
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