NEW DELHI: Experts believe that the city is registering a surge in coronavirus cases due to the reckless attitude of some citizens not following the safety guidelines issued to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
"A lot is to be put on the government and how they have been protecting the pandemic over the past month in particular. When one claims that there are fewer cases and fewer deaths, people gradually tend to start taking the virus a little less seriously. Many have stopped wearing masks and do not maintain social distancing. The susceptible and infected population and intermingling more," said Dr PK Tyagi, an epidemiologist.
As per experts, the winter season may see COVID-19 cases going up even further due to several factors. They claim that the droplets of the virus will be survive longer in the air during the winter. "The second wave might happen in November. The positive cases may go up as air population- level increases during winter. Droplets which carry the virus will remain suspended in the air for longer due to pollution. The administration must start working now to find a solution to this environmental issue," said a senior Delhi government official.
The pollution level which is likely to go up in the winter will be a key factor in holding up the virus as the droplets are to remain tangled in PM 2.5 and PM 10 particles. Also, due to the existing pollution levels in the city, people with a lung infections and breathing difficulties will be at an increased risk. Experts also opined that with the opening of the metro services, the cases are likely to go up even further.
"The kind of ventilation that aircrafts have, that is not the same case with the metro coaches. It is a closed-door service and I don’t think the ventilation cleaning can be that frequent. It is also possible that travellers won’t be wearing masks inside coaches. They can either be carriers of the virus or even one’s susceptible to it. This will lead to an increase in cases and the impact will be visible within 10 days," said Dr Naval Vikram, Professor, Medicine Department, AIIMS (With inputs from Parvez Sultan)