COVID-19: Rise in Delhi containment zones due to community transmission, say experts
NEW DELHI: With over 150 containment zones in the national capital as on Friday, there seems to be no let-up in the spread of the contagion.
Doctor Shuchin Bajaj of the Internal Medicine department at Delhi’s Ujala Cygnus Orthocare Hospital, said, “As we are currently in stage 3 of coronavirus pandemic, community transmission is deeply entrenched now. So if one house gets an index case, there is a big chance of a lot of people getting infected in that area. Therefore, the government has decided to increase the containment zones with proper sanitization and social distancing guidelines inside them.”
Akhila Kosuru, Senior Physician at Apollo Telehealth said that the relaxation of mobility restrictions combined with failure on the part of the public to follow social distancing guidelines and hygienic practices has led to a spike in the number of coronavirus cases in Delhi and thus the subsequent rise in number of containment zones.
“If the trend continues, hospitals will be overwhelmed beyond their capacity, which can lead to a huge public health crisis apart from making it difficult for non-COVID patients to receive proper care on time,” he said.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan in a video conference with Delhi government officials on Thursday said that while the average testing per million population in Delhi was 2018, some districts such as north east were conducting 517 tests per million population and south east 506 tests per million population, numbers which were far below the number of tests required.
While Delhi’s positivity rate last week was 25.7 per cent, several districts reported figures above 38 per cent. This Harsh Vardhan said indicates poor infection prevention and control practices in health care settings.
Rise in positivity rate
According to Union Helath Minister Harsh Vardhan a rise in Delhi’s positivity rate from 25.7 per cent last week to 38 per cent in several districts this week is an indicator of poor infection prevention strategy.
With agency inputs