NEW DELHI: As the city witnesses a sudden spurt in Covid-19 cases, experts have stressed that there is no need to panic over the numbers and the focus should be on protecting the vulnerable population, especially those who are immuno-compromised or have co-morbidities.They have also advised people to remain cautious by masking up and avoiding public gatherings.
Delhi recorded 429 fresh Covid cases on Sunday, the highest in more than seven months, with the positivity rate rising to 16.09 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
Dr Chandrakant Lahariya, an epidemiologist and public health specialist, said, “There is a clear dissociation between infection and disease. It means that people are testing positive but they do not have symptoms. There is increased testing for flu so there is targeted testing and hence an increase in cases. Since there is a surge, patients admitted (for other ailments) are being tested and they are turning out to be Covid positive,” said Lahariya.
He explained that since the variant XBB.1.6 has a “growth advantage”, so there is an increase in cases. However, he said that at this juncture, there is no point in just tracking absolute numbers.
“Our focus should be on looking for clinical cases rather than laboratory-tested cases. For India, there is a 30-fold increase in cases but the daily deaths have not increased in that proportion. We should not worry about the actual number of cases but clinical outcomes,” he said.
Dr Suresh Kumar, medical director of the state-run LNJP Hospital, said, “There are eight patients currently in our hospital and one of them is on ventilator support while others are on oxygen support. The age group ranges from 25 to 64. Fifty per cent have comorbidities and the rest don’t. All of them are doubly vaccinated barring one.”