In a briefing to the media over the Coronavirus pandemic, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday informed the formation of a 5-point strategy to control the spread of COVID-19 infection in Delhi in the time to come. The strategy has been termed as a ‘5 Ts plan’.

The five T’s are testing, tracing, treatment, teamwork, tracking.

Talking about his five-point strategy, Kejriwal said the first ‘T’ is ‘testing’. The chief minister said Delhi will conduct tests on the lines of South Korea, which has been successful in containing the spread of the disease.

“If you don’t test, you won’t be able to find out which houses have been affected. It will go on spreading. South Korea identified every single individual through large scale testings. We are now going to do large scale testings like South Korea,” the Delhi CM announced.

This comes as the Delhi government is set to receive 1 lakh testing kits. The government is preparing to do 1000 tests every day.

“We have ordered kits for testing of 50,000 people. The kits have started arriving. We have also placed orders for the rapid test of 1,00,000 people. The deliveries of kits will begin by Friday. Random tests will be done at hotspots. Detailed tests will also be done,” he elaborated.

On the second step, which is ‘tracing’, the chief minister said it is being carried out efficiently with the help of the police.

“We have given them the phone numbers of 27,702 people to find out if the people, under self-quarantine, are indeed staying at their homes,” Kejriwal said.

He added that the government will today give 2000 more phone contacts of people who were brought out of Nizamuddin Markaz to find out if they roamed in the area around the facility. The areas they went out will be sealed and monitored.

“We will self-quarantine, monitor and seal areas based on tracing,” he said.

The third ‘T’ refers to ‘treatment’. The chief minister said the government has converted a few hospitals only for treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Patients with heart and liver ailments, cancer, diabetes and those above 50 years of age will be kept in hospitals. Patients below 50 years and with minor symptoms will be kept in hotels and dharamshalas with all medical facilities. Arrangement of 8000 beds will be made for serious patients.

Kejriwal said that if there are 30,000 cases in Delhi, then the government will need 400 ventilators and 1200 beds equipped with oxygen, for which arrangements are being made.

He added that hospitals have been identified in such a case and 12,000 rooms in hotels will also be taken over in phases if the need arises.

The fourth ‘T’ in the 5-point plan is ‘teamwork’, said Arvind Kejriwal during the briefing. He noted that everyone in the country, from Centre to state government and Opposition parties are working ‘like a team.’

He said, “I am glad that everyone is working like a team — Centre, Delhi government and all other state governments. Doctors and nurses are the most important part of this team. We have to keep them safe at any cost. People in the country must stay at home.”

He also added that the Delhi government has already calculated as to how many PPE kits, ventilators and other medical equipment will be required at which stage.

And the final point in the strategy is ‘tracking’, which the chief minister said he himself is doing.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the government needs to stay three steps ahead of the Coronavirus to beat it.

India on Tuesday recorded a jump of 354 Coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 4,221 including 114 deaths.

Delhi is the third worst-hit state with 523 infections and 7 fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry.

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