Addressing the growing fears over the spread of COVID-19, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the public not to panic and to take precautionary measures and avoid public places.
Addressing the media at the Secretariat, Mr. Kejriwal said that efforts are on to check and screen 88 people who came in contact with the Delhi man who has tested positive for COVID-19 and that a State-level task force headed by him has been formed to tackle the situation.
“We are concerned about the situation, but there is no need to panic. We are doing whatever we can to control the COVID-19 from spreading... members of all the important departments in Delhi, State officials, and police officers have been included in the task force,” he said.
Isolation wards in 19 government and six private hospitals that were equipped to deal with swine flu are being prepared in case of need for isolation wards, Mr. Kejriwal said.
Testing lab
He added that apart from the two available testing centres, COVID-19 testing lab will be set up at Lady Hardinge Hospital and also at Lok Nayak Hospital, if necessary.
The Chief Minister said that 1,16,579 patients have been screened at the airport by thermal scanners and if any passenger shows symptoms, they will be referred to RML Hospital. The municipal corporations and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), he said, have been given the task of contacting and screening tourists who have arrived from countries where cases of COVID-19 have been reported.
The teams, he said, would visit hotels and guest houses in the city to ensure that none of them have developed any symptoms after reaching Delhi.
Residents of Delhi who have not shown symptoms after landing from the four most-affected countries would also be screened as symptoms can show up after a period of 14 days, Mr. Kejriwal said.
The Chief Minister appealed to Delhiites to come together to fight corona outbreak just as they came together to fight dengue and brought down the number of cases in the city last year.
He said the Education Department would spread awareness regarding the threat of the virus.
Mr. Kejriwal said that he would keep away from Holi celebrations next week on account of COVID-19 threat as well as due to the violence in north-east Delhi.