The Punjab Health Minister on September 8 alleged the Delhi government's plan to use oximeters to check people's oxygen levels can be a strategy to "promote" the further spread of coronavirus in the state.
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According to a statement, the Punjab Health Minister said repeated use of oximeters by multiple people without proper sanitisation may lead to the community spread of the infection. This can be a game-plan of the Delhi government's party, he said. The Delhi Chief Minister on September 2 had said the Delhi government workers will check oxygen levels of people in Punjab's villages.
Slamming the Delhi government, the Punjab Health Minister further warned people that the party was misleading them "just as they had done in Delhi" where the coronavirus situation is critical with all 11 districts of the national capital among the country's 35 worst-affected areas.
The use of the same oximeter by more than one person without sanitisation can lead to further spread of COVID-19, he warned. He said the opposition party was promoting oximeters as a medicine or vaccine of the contagion while the fact is that it simply helps detect oxygen levels in a person's body. Perhaps, their strategy is to "promote the further spread of the pandemic" in Punjab in order to make people believe that it is the government's failure, he said.
The disinformation campaign, which seemed to be deliberately spread by the Aam Aadmi Party to further their petty political interests in Punjab is highly dangerous, the minister said. It can trigger a huge risk of infecting more people and perhaps even triggering a massive community spread in the rural areas, he said. The Delhi government's strategy to spread misinformation in Punjab has been completely exposed , with at least one of their party activists arrested for allegedly making a false video on organ harvesting and testing viral on social media, said the Punjab Health Minister.
The Delhi CM's announcement on the Delhi government's workers going around villages with oximeters was aimed at further compounding the party's vicious campaign, he alleged, adding that the party should focus on managing COVID-19 in Delhi. Delhi's crisis was worsening by the day but the Delhi government is so busy indulging in dirty politics in Punjab, he said. The minister said despite Delhi having lesser population in comparison to Punjab, the number of deaths and active cases there was higher, exposing the total mismanagement of the COVID crisis by the Delhi government.
