New Delhi, August 27: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an official statement on Thursday to refute the allegation of Centre pressuring Delhi government to reduce the number of COVID-19 tests. In an update issued from the official social media handle, the MHA spokesperson clarified that no such intervention is being made by the central government.

The MHA, in a series of tweets, refers to the purported letter Delhi Health Satyendar Jain written to Union Home Secretary, suggesting that the Arvind Kejriwal-led government is being pressured to reduce the number of COVID-19 tests per day. India’s COVID-19 Recoveries Cross 25 Lakh, Fatality Rate Declines to 1.83%.

See Statement Issued by Home Ministry

As such, any allegation that MHA is putting pressure on Delhi Govt not to increase testing in Delhi is absolutely without any basis.

— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) August 27, 2020

"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," the MHA spokesperson said.

"The note has only proposed that the views of an Expert Committee headed by Dr V.K Paul may be taken on the proposed enhancement in testing in Delhi, for technical guidance on various issues such as mix of RT-PCR & Rapid Antigen, categories of geographical areas and demographics etc," the Ministry further added.

Delhi, meanwhile, reported yet another hike in per day count of cases with a total of 1,840 new infections being reported on Thursday. The total number of positive cases in the national capital was recorded as 1,67,604 including 13,208 active cases, 1,50,027 recoveries and 4,369 deaths.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 27, 2020 08:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).