NEW DELHI: The city on Saturday, December 18, 2021, recorded a total of 86 new Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day rise in 5 months. Delhi is witnessing a steady rise in infection numbers amid a worldwide alert over the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus.
On Tuesday, the number of positive cases recorded was 45 which spiked on Thursday with 85 cases. On Friday, the numbers witnessed a slight drop with 69 positive cases but shot up again on Saturday. A slight increase in the positivity rate was also recorded with 0.13 per cent.
Total 484 active cases were recorded on Saturday with 203 in home isolation and 68 discharged and along with this, a total of 66,096 tests were conducted in the national capital.With no deaths for the 10th consecutive day, the number of casualties stood at 25,100.
Meanwhile, the city government has now designated a total of five hospitals as dedicated centres to treat the Omicron variant of Coronavirus.
Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital has so far been patients afflicted by the new strain of Covid-19 in the city, but now private hospitals including Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Max Hospital in Saket, Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj and Batra Hospital in Tughlakabad, will also provide treatment for the highly contagious variant.
While talking about the scare of Omicron variant Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the government is ready to tackle the Omicron variant.
He advised people not to panic saying even though the variant was said to spread faster than the previous ones, its symptoms were mild.
Kejriwal said Delhi was unlikely to face another wave of infections, since according to the sero survey conducted by the city government, 96 per cent of the state population was found to have antibodies and a majority of them were vaccinated.
“I have been holding meetings these last few days and I want to assure people that our government is ready to tackle Omicron,” Kejriwal said at a Christmas and New Year event hosted by the Delhi Assembly Speaker in the assembly premises.
The Chief Minister said the government learnt lessons during the April wave and has worked on its shortcomings. “In April this year, the fourth wave of COVID in Delhi claimed many lives. We took help from everyone and together we brought it under control. We pray to god there is no next wave but if it comes we will bring it under control as we did during the last wave of infection in April,” he said.