NEW DELHI: After two weeks of a surge in Covid-19 cases, the national capital on Tuesday witnessed a dip and recorded 917 fresh cases. There were three deaths reported with a positivity rate of 19.20 per cent. The last two weeks also witnessed a surge with many cases of re-infections.
According to the doctors, there has been a surge in the number of re-infections with people getting infected with the virus even thrice. “There have been instances where patients were down with Covid the third time in a row,” said Dr BL Sherwal, Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital.
He added that since the Covid variant is in its mild form, the situation is not very severe. A similar response was given by Dr Ritu Saxena, Deputy Director at Lok Nayak hospital who said that while the vaccine has been helpful in preventing any severity, the strong transmissibility of the virus is leading to re-infections.
Dr Sherwal added that precaution dose needs to be encouraged which will help in building the immunity further. As per the health bulletin, 5387 patients were in home isolation while 563 patients were hospitalised.
According to Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia, the infection rate of the virus is lesser in people who have taken the precautionary (booster) dose as compared to other people. “90% of the corona-infected patients admitted to the hospital are those who have taken only two doses of the vaccine. At the same time, only 10 per cent of the patients were infected with the Covid after the third dose,” said Sisodia.
On Tuesday, Sisodia held a meeting with senior officers of the Health Department to expedite vaccination. Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar, directed the District Magistrates to visit the ground to know the status of vaccination camps set up across the city.
“The government is keeping a close watch on the situation. We have completely upgraded our health infrastructure. Along with this, all the hospitals have also been asked to remain on alert. However, many people have been careless about taking precautions. But the number of corona-infected patients admitted to hospitals shows that people who have taken precautionary doses are safer than corona infection,” said Sisodia.
He also asked everyone to get a booster dose at the earliest. He also passed instructions to the officials to visit the vaccination camps to know the status of the vaccination.