COVID-19 cases rise to 1,640 in Delhi; govt to conduct tests on people delivering essentials

The Delhi government on Thursday said it will conduct COVID-19 tests on people engaged in delivering essentials like food as the number of novel coronavirus cases mounted to 1,640 in the national capital after 62 fresh cases and six deaths were reported.

The COVID-19 fatalities reported on Thursday are the highest in a day in the city, where a total of 38 people have died due to the disease, according to officials.

The government has decided to conduct COVID-19 tests on those engaged in delivery of food and milk as soon as the rapid anti-bodies test kits are received by it, the officials said in the wake of a pizza delivery agent testing positive for the coronavirus in south Delhi.

The 19-year-old delivery agent had tested positive for the coronavirus infection on April 14. A total of 89 families whom he delivered pizza to have been put under home quarantine.

South Delhi District Magistrate B N Mishra said, "In view of the incident, we are considering that all those involved in home delivery of food are put through clinical screening so that those showing symptoms are stopped from visiting homes."
Under the plasma enrichment technique, antibodies from the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 are used to treat severely infected patients. It is aimed at assessing the efficacy of convalescent plasma to limit complications in COVID-patients
He said, "If the trial of plasma technique is successful, we will be able to save the lives of serious COVID-19 patients."