Super-spreading events must have happened in Delhi, leading to surge in COVID-19 cases: AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria

NEW DELHI: Super-spreading events of COVID-19, in which big crowds with attendees do not take precautions leading to spread of infections on a large scale, must have occurred in Delhi, said All India Institute of Medical Sciences Delhi (AIIMS), Director, Dr Randeep Guleria on Wednesday.

The AIIMS Director said super-spreading might have been the reason behind the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the national capital after the dip.

"What happens is if in a crowd one does not wear mask, one person who may be asymptomatic and is highly infectious he can spread the disease to a large number of people in the crowd. If they get the disease, they will take it to the area they go to, their own family members, their relatives and they will again spread the disease. So you can have super spreading events, and it is likely that this has happened in Delhi. There were crowds, people did not take precautions and they were super spreading events and this led to an increase in the number of cases," Guleria told ANI here.

He further said there was a need for everyone in the national capital to be extra cautious and avoid crowds and wear masks at all points of time when they are in areas with a large number of people.

"We are seeing an increasing surge of cases in Delhi, and the numbers are increasing with time. The number of cases had come down to 2,000 from 4,000, and now they are going upwards of 7,000 and up to 8,000 in a day, this is also reflected in increased hospital admissions and to some extent in mortality," he said.

"There is a need to be extra careful in Delhi, what it means is we need to make sure there is no crowding, people wear masks when they are in markets or functions where there is crowd," he added.

The AIIMS Director said although avoiding crowds might be difficult, keeping the festive and marriage season in mind, but with the change in temperature, deteriorating air pollution levels there is an increasing need to be more cautious.

He also advised senior citizens and people with co-morbidities to be extra vigilant during this phase.

As per the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday, there are 41,385 active COVID-19 cases in the national capital, while 4,02,854 patients have been cured and discharged so far. Over 7,000 fatalities have been reported due to the disease in the national capital so far.