Covid-19 situation contained in Delhi, govt doing all it can: Health minister Satyendar Jain
A high-level expert committee led by NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul had said that hospitals in Delhi should prepare for 15,000 daily infections owing to a spike in respiratory illnesses with winter setting in along with Covid-19 cases.
The coronavirus pandemic situation in Delhi is under control and the government is carrying out containment, contact tracing and isolation to tackle the issue, health minister Satyendar Jain said on Sunday.
“Dr Paul expert committee had said that due to winter and festive season cases (of the coronavirus disease per day) can spike up to 12,000-14,000 but right now it is around 4,000 so the situation is contained. We are focused on containment, contact tracing and isolation to tackle the situation,” Jain said, according to news agency ANI.
Jain was referring to the report of the high-level expert committee led by NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul which had said that hospitals in Delhi should prepare for 15,000 daily cases owing to a spike in respiratory illnesses with winter setting in along with Covid-19 cases.
Also read | Delhi airport to soon start Covid-19 testing for international departures
The committee had listed three reasons which may lead to a surge in cases. “Winter months that make respiratory illnesses severe; patients may come from outside from Delhi in large numbers; patients coming from distant areas are likely to be get more serious. In addition, with festival gatherings, there could be a sudden rise in the cases,” the report had said.
Paul, who heads the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC), had also said in an interview to PTI earlier this month that India could see a second wave of coronavirus infections in the winters as he cited the rising cases in Europe. “We cannot rule out (a second coronavirus wave this winter in India). Things can happen and we are still learning about the virus,” Paul said, according to PTI.
Delhi had recorded 4,116 fresh Covid-19 cases on Saturday, the highest single-day spike in 35 days, and the death toll in the national capital mounted to 6,225. These fresh cases resulted from 55,461 tests conducted the previous day. It was the second consecutive day when more than 4,000 new cases were reported. According to the health bulletin issued by the Delhi government on Saturday, 4,116 fresh cases were reported. On Friday, 4,086 new cases were recorded and 3,882 a day before.
The previous highest single-day spike in the cases of the coronavirus disease was recorded on September 18, when 4,127 new infections were recorded. New cases in Delhi had been below the 4,000-mark since September 19, until on October 23.
The health bulletin said 36 fatalities were recorded, taking the death toll to 6,225, the bulletin said. The tally of active cases on Saturday rose to 26,467 up from 26,001 the previous day. The total number of cases climbed to 3,52,520, the bulletin said.
