Amit Shah calls for unity in COVID-19 fight

Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday took charge of overseeing the management of the novel coronavirus in Delhi’s hospitals and issued orders that CCTV cameras be installed in all Covid-19 wards and alternative canteens be set up for uninterrupted supply of food to patients.

After paying a surprise visit to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital to review arrangements related to Covid-19, Mr Shah also suggested psychosocial
counselling of doctors and nurses engaged in corona care.

Mr Shah’s directions to Delhi chief secretary Vijay Dev to ensure the installation of CCTV cameras in all Covid-19 wards of designated hospitals and setting up back-up
canteens in case of infection in the main canteen came after he held an all-party
meeting with the local leaders of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the BJP, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party.

At the meeting, the home minister urged all political parties to put their differences aside and work unitedly for the people of Delhi. The national capital has the third-highest Covid-19 count after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

After the meeting Mr Shah made a surprise visit to Covid-designated LNJP hospital,
run by the Delhi government. The hospital has been receiving negative publicity after several videos, purportedly shot on its premises, showed patients’ bodies lying on the floor or next to patients in wards. The videos also showed some elderly patients left unattended even as they cried for help.

With the total number of coronavirus cases in Delhi now at 42,829, after 1,647 cases
were reported in the last 24 hours, home ministry said that special units of the
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and other Central para-military forces have been kept on standby. If the situation in Delhi gets worse, they would be deployed in the worst affected containment zones to contain the spread of the virus. With 73 more deaths, the toll due to the deadly virus in Delhi is now 1,400.