A worker wearing a face shield and clean mask inside a train at a Delhi metro station ahead of the restart of operations, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New Delhi, India , September 3, 2020. REUTERS / Adnan Abidi
Over the past two weeks, the city’s average daily fatality trajectory has increased by 50%, Union Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Thursday.
- News18.com New Delhi
- Last update: September 3, 2020 11:25 PM IST
- FOLLOW US:
The national capital is now witnessing the beginning of a second wave of Covid-19. Even as the city is poised to enter the next stage of reopening by resuming the Delhi Metro, daily cases of coronavirus are on the rise once again.
On Wednesday, Delhi recorded 2,509 cases, the highest number on record since early July. The active case count has reached 16,502. There has been no inspection spike since mid-July, when the Delhi government, in collaboration with the Union Ministry of the Interior, had intensified testing to effectively track hotspots.
The average daily trajectory of case fatalities in the past two weeks has increased by 50%, Union Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Thursday.
“After active cases increased in Delhi, the Interior Ministry engaged with the Delhi government to curb the infection and the deputy governor held a meeting with the chief minister and officials from AIIMS and Niti Aayog,” Bhushan said.
The Delhi government health bulletin also showed that a record 28,835 tests were performed. However, 20,965 of these were rapid antigen tests and the remainder comprised RT-PCR, TruNat, and CBNAAT tests.
Hospitals have seen an increase in admissions of Covid-19 patients and authorities are working on what they called a “renewed” strategy to curb the infection amid increased economic and social activities. As cases increase, authorities maintained that the increase has not reached alarming proportions, but also admitted that they are closely monitoring developments and that strategies to control the increase are being reworked.
“We had a detailed review of the situation in Thursday’s meeting with the lieutenant governor. A renewed strategy and comprehensive effort is being planned on important fronts: containment, surveillance, hospital management, testing strategy, ambulance readiness, and engagement with the public regarding appropriate Covid behavior, ”said Dr. VK Paul, Member by Niti Aayog.
When asked about the reasons behind the sudden spike in the case, Paul attributed the resumption of activities.
“There has been a general rebound in activities; workers who had left for their home states have started to return to work. I would say that this is happening in large part because we are moving towards new activities. We must also remember that nearly 70 percent of the city’s population is still susceptible, “he added.
At Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP), Delhi’s largest Covid facility, admissions of coronavirus patients are also increasing. “We have seen an increase in the number of cases. In the last seven days or so, we have seen 15-20% more case load and we also report a good number of admissions from people who are from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Middle-aged and elderly people make up the bulk of the new patients we are admitting, ”said Dr. Suresh Kumar, director of LNJP Hospital.
Officials from the Delhi health department said that while activities are increasing, the department faces some setbacks in contact tracing. “People must realize that the ‘unlock’ is mainly for economic activities and not for social activities. We have observed cases where people, when called to collect information about their movement, do not provide details. This is an impediment to locating contacts and isolating those who could be at risk, ”said a senior official.
However, some experts said that the increase in Covid-19 infections was not completely unexpected, as similar increases had been observed in other nations. They stressed that it was important to act quickly.
“There can be multiple causes for the surge. It has been seen in Hong Kong, London, and Singapore. But it is important to note that the death rate is not out of control even if the spread is more widespread, “said Dr. Mahesh Verma, member of the Delhi government expert committee on hospital preparedness and vice-chancellor of Guru Gobind University. Singh Indraprastha.
He added that measures to curb the cases could not be relaxed, especially as economic activities continued to gradually resume. “We have to be even more vigilant now,” Dr. Verma said.
.
