Amid surge in Covid-19 cases, Delhi L-G Baijal advises intensifying surveillance, contract tracing

As cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Delhi are on an uptick, Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal held a review meeting to assess the overall situation on Friday and advised authorities to intensify surveillance, detention, contact tracing and quarantine of infected patients while undertaking extensive campaigns.

The review meeting was attended by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director Dr Randeep Guleria, NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director general Dr Balram Bhargava.

“Advised all concerned authorities to intensify surveillance, detention, contact tracing and quarantine of COVID-positive patients while undertaking extensive Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) campaigns. Emphasised on continued and coordinated efforts to combat COVID19 with regular monitoring and feedback from experts,” Baijal tweeted. 

Baijal also said he held an interaction with the district magistrates (DMs), deputy commissioners of police (DCPs) and municipal commissioners, adding that field officials were advised to ensure strict enforcement of preventive and protective measures for the management of the disease, particularly in view of the ongoing festive season.

The national capital has so far registered more than 348,000 Covid-19 cases, which include 6,189 fatalities, nearly 313,000 recoveries and 26,001 active cases. On Friday, 4,086 fresh Covid-19 cases were added, the highest single-day tally since the last 34 days. The previous single-day spike was recorded on September 19 which stood at 4,071. Since then, daily cases stood below the 4,000-mark till Thursday.

The positivity rate derived from the Covid-19 tests climbed to 6.61% on Thursday. The positivity rate per week shot up from 5.4% to 6.4% in the last 14 days.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government has increased its testing capacity to approximately 60,000 tests per day due to the surge in infections since September. More than 16,000 tests have been carried out in the last two days.