New Delhi: Amid hospitals being overwhelmed by a surge in coronavirus cases in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal directed authorities on Monday to further strengthen the city's home-isolation system and asked officers to ensure that COVID-19 patients get a call from government-appointed teams of doctors within 24 hours of testing positive for the viral disease.
Kejriwal, who held a review meeting with his deputy Manish Sisodia and top officers, also asked the latter to keep a clear record of such patients going to hospitals and those being treated in home isolation.
The chief minister and his cabinet colleagues have hailed the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's home isolation policy on several occasions. In September last year, Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said the policy had proved to be a "game-changer" in taming the surge in June, a strategy the government continues to pursue.
At the review meeting on Monday, Kejriwal directed that the patients in home isolation, who do not have an oximeter, be given the device, along with a COVID kit.
Read: Delhi received 440 MT of oxygen, much less than allocated 590 MT quota: Sisodia
According to official records, there were 50,742 COVID-19 patients in home isolation in Delhi till Sunday, while 20,136 were being treated in hospitals.
"The chief minister directed that the people who are undergoing treatment in home isolation would get a call from a doctor within 24 hours of being detected positive and their counselling would also begin," the city government said in a statement.
