NEW DELHI: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said the state government would ease Covid restrictions if the number of cases start declining in the national capital. While the government’s daily health bulletin released in the evening showed a sharp jump in deaths and fresh cases over the previous day, Jain said earlier in the day that the number of hospitalisations and even the positivity rate had not seen any major spike over the past few days, and seemed to have stabilised.
Jain claimed that the positivity rate has remained around 25 per cent in the last few days. Delhi had on January 11 reported a positivity rate of 25.65 per cent while on January 10, the figure stood at 25 per cent. “Covid cases in Delhi continue to be above 20,000, but the positivity rate is stagnant at around 25 per cent, which is a good sign,” Jain told reporters.
“I hope that this Corona peak ends as soon as possible in Delhi and the country and the outbreak ends,” he said. “The hospital admission rate has not risen in the past four to five days. If it continues, there will be some relief in restrictions,” the minister added. Sharing related details, Jain said: “For the last few days, close to 20,000 cases have been arriving daily in Delhi. A total of 2,209 of the existing total 14,621 reserved beds for corona are occupied in the hospitals. This means that about 85 per cent of the beds are still available. The Delhi government has made plans to increase them if necessary.”
“Plateauing of hospital admissions is an indication that the wave has peaked. We may see a decline in cases in two to three days,” he said. Cases had started declining in Mumbai and Delhi is likely to follow the same trend, he added. He, however, cautioned against any laxity in adhering to all the guidelines and protocol saying the threat had not yet passed.
Jain said the government was keeping an eye on the pandemic situation and restrictions were being put in place on a regular basis to try to keep the virus in check. He also asserted that most of those who had passed away in the ongoing surge of infections were found to have comorbidities.
The health minister said doctors at the Lok Nayak Hospital had on Tuesday informed him that only six out the 36 patients in their ICU had “severe” Covid infection. “Thirty patients had other problems as primary reason and not Covid-induced issues like pneumonia or lung failure like last time,” he said.
‘May see a decline in 2-3 days'
Cases had started declining in Mumbai and Delhi is likely to follow the same trend, Health Minister Satyendar Jain added. He, however, cautioned against any laxity in adhering to all the guidelines and protocol saying the threat had not yet passed.