New Delhi: India on Thursday witnessed a steady rise with 1,007 new coronavirus infections with the daily positivity rate at 0.23 per cent. The gradual spike in COVID-19 cases has been witnessed largely in four important cities including the national capital.
On Wednesday, Delhi reported 299 new COVID-19 cases, a jump of 118 per cent from the daily count recorded two days ago, while the positivity rate stood at 2.49 per cent. The Covid positivity rate in Delhi has jumped from 0.5 per cent to 2.70 per cent in a week, even as doctors on Tuesday said it was “not a panic situation” as the daily cases count was still low but cautioned against dropping the guard. With an uptick in daily cases and a significant rise in the positivity rate over the last few days, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said the city government was keeping a watchful eye on the COVID-19 situation and there was no reason to worry until a new variant of concern is detected. The national capital’s COVID-19 tally on Wednesday stood at 18,66,881 and the death toll at 26,158, the latest bulletin stated.
Meanwhile, Delhi’s neighbours Noida and Gurugram have also witnessed a sudden surge in daily COVID-19 cases. While Gurugram logged 128 new Covid-19 cases after nearly 40 days, Noida saw over 20 students infected with Covid-19 in a week. In Gurugram, the last time COVID cases crossed the 100 mark was on March 4, when 115 cases were recorded. Following this, the numbers had dropped below 100 and Haryana had also lifted all Covid-related restrictions in the state on February 16. All schools across Noida and Greater Noida have been advised to immediately inform the health department about any child with cough, cold, fever, diarrhoea, or showing any symptom of COVID-19 for timely treatment.
It was learned that one of the schools, which had reported infection to 13 children and three teachers on Monday, has switched to the online mode till next week. Details of other schools could not be confirmed even as it was learned that the 10 children who have now tested positive for COVID-19 belong to different schools. However, Mumbai reported 73 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday–the highest in a day after March 17 this year. 68 out of 73 patients are asymptomatic and five others are admitted to hospitals.
COVID-19 cases have been rising steadily since the start of this week on Monday, when Mumbai had recorded 23 cases, as per the data. A day earlier on Tuesday, Mumbai had logged 52 cases and zero fatalities. As per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai has been witnessing a slight spike in daily Covid case count, however, the city has not reported any Covid-related fatalities in the past three days. Mumbai’s positivity rate has also risen to 0.007%. Earlier on Tuesday, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya reviewed the situation in view of rising Covid-19 cases and the fear of emerging XE variants.
He asked people to maintain precautions as the pandemic is not over yet and directed officials to boost the ongoing monitoring and surveillance of new variants and cases.
What Doctor’s said about rising COVID cases and removing the mask mandate
Dr Richa Sareen, consultant of pulmonology at Fortis Hospital said that this is not a panic situation, but there is a need to be vigilant and follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. She criticized the city government’s recent move to remove the mask mandate, but added that it wasn’t a “static decision” and if the situation warrants, the rules can again be changed. According to several doctors interviewed for this article, vaccination and herd immunity has definitely provided some protection against coronavirus (flu) in people. However, senior consultant at Apollo Hospital cautioned against complacency after removing the mask mandate: “While daily cases have been rising…a sense of complacency has set in among the masses”.
“I do not foresee any new wave as long as we remain cautious, follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and wear mask while being outside, especially in crowded places,” he said. “But, I am seeing visuals on the internet and reports that people are gathering in large numbers and not many are wearing mask which would mean that cases could further rise,” he added. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year.