Delhi News : Senior health officials said while the capital is already witnessing a rise in Covid cases, the numbers are expected to see a further uptick in the coming days when people would gather in large numbers in open spaces such as markets, malls and movie theatres owing to the extended weekend. On Friday, Delhi reported 2,136 fresh Covid cases and a positivity rate of 15.02% after conducting 14,225 tests, the Delhi government’s daily health bulletin said.
Anticipating a further spike in Covid-19 cases, owing to the extended weekend and Independence Day celebrations on Monday, the Delhi government’s health department has directed agencies to ramp up enforcement in crowded public places in the coming days, senior officials aware of the matter said on Friday.
Senior health officials said while the capital is already witnessing a rise in Covid cases, the numbers are expected to see a further uptick in the coming days when people would gather in large numbers in open spaces such as markets, malls and movie theatres owing to the extended weekend.
To control a further rise in cases, the enforcement teams have been directed to ramp up checks and ensure that Covid appropriate behaviour is mandatorily followed by all in crowded places, officials said.
“This will be a crucial time. We just finished Rakhi and we have Independence Day on Monday. This is the time when people tend to go out with their friends and families and if proper precaution is not maintained, such gatherings can become a reason for the spike in Covid cases. We have asked the enforcement teams to increase vigil and ensure that people are wearing masks and following social distancing norms,” said a senior official of the health department, asking not to be named.
Delhi has been witnessing a spike in Covid-19 cases, with the daily positivity rate hovering close to the 20% mark over the last few days.
On Friday, Delhi reported 2,136 fresh Covid cases and a positivity rate of 15.02% after conducting 14,225 tests, the Delhi government’s daily health bulletin said. A total of 10 persons succumbed to the viral disease on Friday, the bulletin said.
An assessment of the recent rise in Covid cases by the government found that the rise in cases was not particularly because of a new variant or a sub-variant but rather because of lax protective measures and lack of adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour.
The assessment also highlighted that as HT had reported earlier, currently the Covid infections in Delhi are being driven by Omicron’s BA.2.75 sub-lineage followed by BA.2.76 and then BA.5.
Dr Subhash Giri, medical director, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, said the BA.2.75 sub-lineage that is currently dominant in the community is known to be more transmissible than the sub-variants that were earlier circulating in the city.
He also said people who are immunocompromised or immunosuppressed continue to be at risk and for their safety, the community needs to practise masking, hand hygiene and social distancing.
“While we are seeing that Covid infection in the current spike continues to show mild to moderate symptoms among healthy patients with good immunity, it is manifesting into severe symptoms among those whose immunity is compromised. We are also seeing a lot of incidental Covid positive cases in our hospital, which includes patients who came in with other medical issues and ended up testing positive for Covid. However, I would like to stress that it is mandatory that we follow Covid appropriate behaviour to protect the vulnerable sections,” said Dr Giri.
He said currently, the hospital has 27 patients admitted with Covid, of whom two are on ventilator support.
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