Delhi sees sharp jump in Covid cases, positivity rate up too
NEW DELHI: Delhi reported a big jump in Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, sparking concerns. The city recorded 299 fresh cases while positivity rate increased to 2.49%, but no fatality was reported in the last 24 hours. The numbers, in fact, have been increasing over the past one week. Positivity rate has also gone up from 0.5 per cent to 2.70 per cent in a week.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will meet on Monday to take stock of the situation and decide the future course of action regarding the measures to curb the rising cases. The number of fresh cases recorded on Tuesday is not known as the Delhi Health Department did not release the health bulletin for the day. On Monday, the city had reported 137 new cases while the positivity rate was recorded at 2.70 per cent, the highest in two months, with a total of 5,079 tests conducted.
Doctors said there was no need to panic as the case count was still low but cautioned against dropping the guard. According to officials in the health department, the experts are observing the clinical and pathological conditions of the Covid affected people and are analysing the symptoms.
“While the cases are increasing, the number of patients admitted in hospitals has not increased. So far we are not augmenting the number of beds but will do the needful if the situation arises,” said an official from the Delhi health department.
According to a senior doctor working with Lok Nayak Hospital, the spike is primarily because of schools and colleges reopening. “Many cases have been reported in schools and colleges since the time they have reopened. The relaxation in curbs is another major factor. People are not wearing masks,” said the doctor.
According to doctors, the samples sent for genome sequencing in the last four days were not found with any other variant except Omicron. “We have sent the next batch for sampling and the reports are yet to come out,” the doctor at Lok Nayak added. Health Minister Satyendar Jain had on Monday said the government was keeping an eye on the situation.