New Delhi: With New Delhi having recorded 1,254 Covid-19 cases Wednesday, there has been a 527 per cent increase in the number of daily cases in the past month.
From 200 cases on 24 February, Delhi recorded 1,254 cases on 24 March, according to Delhi government data.
The positivity rate has also gone up from 0.36 per cent to 1.52 per cent during the same period, the data showed.
Wednesday also saw Delhi’s biggest single-day spike in the past three months. Six people died due to the virus, taking the overall death count to 10,973.
The last time the cases were this high was on 18 December, when the city had recorded 1,418 cases.
In the past week, cases also more than doubled as compared to the week before that. On an average, over 800 new cases were reported every day in the past week, against 428 cases daily a week prior.
In wake of the spiralling of cases in Delhi, authorities announced measures to restrict large public gatherings. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority Tuesday banned public celebrations during Holi, Navaratri and Shab-e-Baraat.
The AAP government ordered all district magistrates to ensure strict enforcement of all Covid-related norms, especially in crowded areas. It also said random testing for Covid-19 will be held across the city’s airports, railway and bus stations.
A new “double mutant variant” of SARS-CoV-2 has also been detected in Delhi, Maharashtra and some other places in addition to the three “variants of concern” — first noticed in the UK, South Africa and Brazil — that have been found in at least 18 states and union territories, the Union Health Ministry said Wednesday.
There are 69 cases of established variants in Delhi, out of which 65 are of the UK strain, while four are of the South African variant.
The “double mutant” variant of the coronavirus that has been detected from samples collected in India has also seen nine cases in Delhi, said National Centre for Disease Control director S.K. Singh at a press briefing Wednesday.
A senior Delhi health department official, meanwhile, said the government has already issued necessary directions to district officials regarding stricter enforcement of Covid-appropriate behaviour and to not spare anywhere seen violating the norms.
Experts also said people cannot afford to lower their guard.
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‘It’s here to stay’
Dr Jugal Kishore, head of community medicine, Safdarjung Hospital, said, “This is here to stay for a while if people don’t remain cautious and take precautions.”
He believes people who had been locked up at home for a year have begun stepping out now, which has led to the latest spike as they are more vulnerable since they weren’t exposed earlier.
“Besides, these are all cases of new infections as these people were indoors and, hence, not exposed to the virus outside so automatically, (but) now when activities have resumed and they are meeting more people outside their homes, their chances of contracting the virus are higher,” he added.
“Since 50 per cent of Delhi’s population was infected earlier, I anyway see at least another 10-20 per cent getting infected before the daily cases come down,” Dr Kishore further told ThePrint.
Dr Suneela Garg, professor of excellence at Delhi’s Maulana Azad Medical College, said Delhi was on its way to increasing the daily number of vaccinations, which should hopefully help in the time to come.
“Covid-appropriate behaviour is no longer being followed and there has been overcrowding at a lot of places, people need to be patient and understand that the pandemic is still here and that there are new variants too now,” Garg added.
(Edited by Debalina Dey)
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