New Delhi: Just as the Delhi government said that the coronavirus pandemic had been “defeated” in the national capital, cases are on the rise again dramatically, as doctors on Friday warned that the numbers could go up in the coming months and urged people to continue to wear masks and follow COVID-19 safety norms. Delhi recorded 256 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest number of single-day incidences in February, while one fresh death pushed the death toll to 10,906, according to data shared by the city health department.

This is the third successive day when daily cases count have stood at 200-mark or beyond. On Thursday, 220 COVID-19 cases were registered while on Wednesday the count stood at 200.

Highest number in the month of Feb

Delhi had recorded 94 fresh COVID-19 cases on February 16, the lowest in over nine months then. However, after a week on February 24, it more than doubled to 200 and increased further to 220 on Thursday and 256 on Friday.

No COVID-19-related death was recorded in Delhi on February 17, the third time single-day fatality count had stood nil in this month. On February 9 too, no fatality from coronavirus infection was registered, the first time this month, and after a gap of nearly nine months. No death from COVID-19 was recorded on February 13 as well.

What medical experts say

Many doctors at leading healthcare facilities here cautioned that the rise was “alarming” with an “upsurge” in the number of patients going there in the last couple of days, after the cases had shown a downward spiral for nearly six weeks.

Health experts and doctors on Friday attributed this “sudden rise” to complacency in people and not following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and “assuming all is well now”.

Dr Suranjit Chatterjee, Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine at Apollo Hospital, said he “wasn’t surprised” to see the rise in daily cases as so many people have thrown caution to the wind, attending parties and big social gatherings, with many of them not even wearing masks, let alone maintaining social distancing.

“The coronavirus behaviour pattern seen in the West and elsewhere tends to get seen in India, a month later, as it happened in reporting of the first case in Kerala and so on and so forth. So, if the US and UK are seeing a surge again, we should have become more watchful and not complacent. The next two months will be even more critical and I would not be surprised if the cases show a much higher upward trend,” he told PTI.

Adherence to safety norms must

Chatterjee, himself a COVID-19 survivor, lamented that people are attending birthday parties, marriages and house warming functions, with very few people wearing masks or not wearing them properly and not adhering to safety norms needed to check the spread of the virus that has a “mutant tendency” as seen in the UK.

Dr Richa Sareen, pulmonology and critical care consultant at Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj, echoed Chatterjee’s apprehensions. The senior doctor warned that cases will spiral up faster if people continue to show complacency in their behaviour and stop taking precautions.

“Travel restrictions are not there, malls and markets are open, and public transport is operational since the successive unlocks, and vaccination started in January, so many people are assuming that now all is well. And several family members and friends are meeting in a group without following COVID-appropriate behaviour. So, cases are rising,” Sareen said.

Need to be more watchful

The Fortis hospital doctor underlined that the “second major wave” of the pandemic is being seen in the US and UK, and Indian cities should be more watchful, particularly Delhi, after rise in case being reported in Maharashtra and Kerala.

False sense of safety

Sareen also blamed the lack of adherence to COVID-19 safety norms to travellers, social media influencers, bloggers, posting photos and videos of their trips and shoots, many of them without masks, lulling their friends and followers into a “false sense of safety”.

“These big social media influencers should show some responsibility as their acts are followed by others. Also, many people these days are travelling and posting pictures on Facebook and Instagram, from Varanasi and Goa, seen without any mask on. This affects the psyche of others and they tend to feel the situation is normal again, while it is not. We need to be more cautious and behave more responsibly if we have to combat this pandemic effectively in the long run,” she said.

(With inputs from PTI)