COVID-19 Delhi: LG directs officials to launch on-demandn testing, install facilities on border points, construction sites

LG asked officials to issue an SOP to introduce these facilities in the state in the meeting held with Delhi Disaster Management Authority.

Amid the rising number of coronavirus cases again in the national capital and the influx of migrant workers back from their homes, Lt Governor Anil Baijal has directed health officials in the state to ramp up testing capacity to a level that can give people an option of ‘testing on-demand’, PTI reported. LG Baijal has also asked officials to augment testing facilities at the capital’s border points and at major construction sites to curb the spread of coronavirus. PTI cited an unnamed source to report that the LG asked officials to issue an SOP to introduce these facilities in the state in the meeting held with Delhi Disaster Management Authority

The report further stated that the government will soon launch a helpline number for people to call in case of doubt and any COVID-19 related symptoms and book testing for the coronavirus infection. “In the first phase, senior citizens, women, and children are likely to avail ‘testing on-demand’ facility. Another option is that people can also book testing at nearby centers by making a call at the helpline number,” PTI quoted an unnamed source from the meeting as saying.

The testing facility on Delhi’s borders has been proposed keeping in mind that the labourers who had returned to their native states when the lockdown was imposed are now coming back in search of livelihood and opportunities as the economy is opening up under the guidelines of the fourth phase of the country’s unlocking from the lockdown.
“It will be mandatory for all migrant workers coming to Delhi to undergo tests. However, people, who live in NCR but work in Delhi, can also undergo the test if they feel so,” added the PTI report.