'False And Baseless': MHA Junks Delhi Govt's Allegations Of Putting Pressure To Not Increase Covid-19 Testing

The Home Ministry spokesperson termed the allegations raised by the Delhi minister as false and baseless.

(File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday rubbished Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain’s statement claiming that the former was is putting pressure on the Delhi government not to increase COVID-19 tests to 40,000 in the national capital. The Home Ministry spokesperson noted that the considerable improvement in the COVID-19 situation in the national capital is a result of increased testing and hence, termed the allegations raised by the Delhi minister as false and baseless. In a Twitter post, the central ministry stated that the allegation raised in the letter of the Health Minister of Delhi Govt dated August 27, 2020, which is addressed to Union Home Secretary, to the effect that MHA is putting pressure on Delhi Govt officers not to increase testing in Delhi is false and baseless.

In the following tweet, MHA marked the intervention of the Union Home Minister following which the daily tests in Delhi, which were averaging around 4,000 per day till mid June, went up to up to around 18-20,000 per day in a calibrated manner. The Home Ministry said that the letter of the Delhi Health Minister has annexed a note of the officers of the Delhi Govt. It may be noted that this note has made no mention whatsoever of any instruction of MHA on the matter of increase in testing in Delhi.

The note has only proposed that the views of an Expert Committee headed by VK Paul may be taken on the proposed enhancement in testing in Delhi, for technical guidance on various issues such as mix of RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen, categories of geographical areas and demographics, MHA said. The remarks from the central government came in response to Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain's letter to the Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla stating that 'Delhi government wants to increase the number of tests 40 thousand per day but Home ministry officials are stopping this'.