NEW DELHI: The national capital for the third consecutive day registered its highest single-day spike of Covid-19 cases with 571 new positive cases being reported in the past 24 hours.With the city witnessing a steep rise in the number of cases, what has left many bewildered is the lack of clarity as to where the new cases are originating. While on one hand, the government has been de-sealing previously contained zones, new zones have not been added as proactively. On Wednesday, after a gap of more than 20 days, two areas in South District were sealed.
“There is no clarity as to where these cases are coming from. Why is the government keeping silent regarding the identification of hotspots? The government wants us to feel good by providing relaxations but aren’t disclosing information about areas where cases are being registered. So many people are under home quarantine, we should at least know about these localities — this should be done keeping everyone’s safety in mind,” said BS Vohra, president, Federation of East Delhi RWA.
There has been a significant rise in the number of Covid positive patients being asked to self-isolate at home. As per the latest figure, 2,739 positive patients have been told to isolate at home. This number is much higher than that of people admitted to hospitals which is 1,802. An additional 526 people have been kept at Covid care centres. Of the 571 new cases, 381 have been put on home isolation.The government is also yet to come up with any district-wise breakdown of Covid-19 cases.Messages to Health Secretary Padmini Singla and DGHS Nutan Mundeja went unanswered.
A top health government official claimed that the decision of areas to be sealed is up to each District Magistrate. When contacted, the majority of them did not respond, while two said that cases are either from quarantine centres or pre-existing containment zones. One of the DMs also said that there has been no maintenance of district-wise data of coronavirus cases.
The fatality count also went up to 194 with 18 more deaths. However, owing to the tight-lipped approach of the state government authorities, and a constantly changing pattern of data presentation in the health bulletin, it is difficult to estimate if the fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours or are updated figures from hospitals as asked by the audit committee.
‘Recoveries will soon trump active cases count’
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that soon the number of patients who have recovered from coronavirus will be more than the active cases in the national capital. Out of 11,659 Covid-19 cases, 5,567 people have so far recovered while 5,898 cases are stil active in the national capital