Contact tracing now mandatory for all Covid-19 patients in Delhi: MHA

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Sunday said that contact tracing would be scaled up in the national capital and would be diligently followed for all Covid-19 positive patients in Delhi using the Aarogya Setu app. The national capital has witnessed a surge in coronavirus cases this month, soon after lockdown restrictions were eased by the Centre from June 1.

There will be fresh delineation of containment zones in Delhi and a serological survey will be carried out from June 27 till July 10 on 20,000 samples to ascertain the scale of the spread of the infectious Covid-19 disease in the national capital, the MHA said in a statement.

The announcement came soon after Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday evening chaired a review meeting to discuss the Covid-19 crisis in Delhi, a week after he held a series of meetings with top Delhi government officials, including chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and L-G Anil Baijal.

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According to a timeline suggested by the Dr VK Paul committee, the Delhi government has been directed to prepare a strategy by Monday, form district-level teams by Tuesday and prepare to rework the delineation of the capital’s containment zones by June 26.

A total survey of such containment zones has to be completed by June 30 and by July 6, a survey has to be carried out on the whole of Delhi, the MHA has indicated.

Home minister Amit Shah, according to a statement by the home ministry, has further directed that there should be an analysis pertaining to every deceased person, including the number of days he was in hospital and his place of residence; whether the person was in home isolation or being treated in a hospital. The reasons for not taking a victim of the infectious disease to a designated Covid Care facility also needed to be mapped by the government, according to the new guidelines.

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Shah also said that all Covid-19 positive cases will have to go to hospital, except those who have enough space in their homes and have no co-morbidities.

Shah has been regularly holding meetings over the coronavirus health crisis in the national capital amid a sudden spike in the number of Covid-19 positive cases. Delhi on Saturday witnessed the highest single-day spike of 3,630 Covid-19 cases. The numbers, however, dipped a little with the capital city reporting 3,000 fresh Covid-19 cases on Sunday, according to latest health department data.

The health bulletin issued by the Delhi government today indicated that there are 59,746 positive cases in the national capital.