As Delhi witnesses a third surge in Covid-19 cases, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Monday convened a meeting to review the pandemic situation in the capital, an official statement said.
While making a presentation to the meeting, which also attended by NITI Aayog Member (Health) VK Paul, Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava and Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, the Delhi government officials said the recent spike in cases was due to the festival season, which saw greater movement of people and laxity in in adhering to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.
Also present at the meeting were Delhi Chief Secretary and Delhi Police Commissioner.
Caseload
Even though the capital had seen substantial reduction in fresh Covid-19 infections till very recently, for nearly it has been reporting a spurt in new infections. In the last 24 hours, for instance, Delhi reported 5,664 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of active Covid-19 cases to 34,173.
The Delhi government officials said hospital bed situation in the capital is comfortable with 57 per cent of the 15,789 dedicated beds being vacant.
The meeting discussed the strategy to contain the Covid-19 spread, especially keeping in view the festival season and decreasing temperatures accompanied by rising pollution. It was decided to concentrate efforts in certain key areas, such as targeted RT-PCR testing in sensitive and critical zones such as restaurants, market places, barber shops, to gear up the availability of medical resources including beds, ICUs, and ventilators as a pre-emptive measure, to ensure high degree of contact tracing and monitoring of quarantined contacts to suppress and break the chain of transmission.
Stringent measures
It was also decided to enhance enforcement selectively, accompanied by greater awareness creation through targeted IEC (Information, Education and Communication) campaigns; and ensuring that all cases under home isolation were monitored and shifted to hospitals well in time, before any deterioration in their medical condition. It was also emphasised that the Metro travel should be carefully regulated, strictly in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that has been issued.
Concluding the meeting, the Home Secretary stressed that the strategies for containment of spread of Covid-19 in Delhi should be strictly enforced and implemented. He pointed out the need for reaching out to the residents of Delhi to sensitise them about safe Covid behaviour through resident welfare associations, mohalla and market committees, public announcement systems, and message on police vehicles.
Bhalla said he would review the situation again next week along with other districts in the National Capital Region (NCR).