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With Delhi witnessing a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the highly contagious Omicron variant, the city government hinted on bringing more restriction if and when required. The national capital on Monday reported 4,099 new Covid cases, 28% more than on Sunday and with this the positivity rate soared to 6.46%.
"Till Sunday, there were around 8,000 active cases in Delhi and just 3.4% of the total 9,024 Covid beds in the hospitals were occupied. There were around 1,500 to 2,000 patients in the hospitals when Delhi reported an equal number of active cases the last time," Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain told at the Delhi Assembly earlier in the day.
"We will implement more restrictions if the bed occupancy rate goes up," the minister added.
Meanwhile, if the positivity rate is over 5% for two consecutive days, it would trigger a 'red alert' under the Delhi Disaster Management Authority-approved Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) leading to a 'total curfew' and halting of most economic activities.
Currently, the city is in the ‘yellow’ alert category as per the graded response. In this, cinema halls and theatres are closed, and so are other places of gathering. Night curfew is also in place, from 10pm to 5am.
Omicron behind the COVID surge
At the assembly, Jain further pointed out that latest genome-sequencing report shows Omicron was found in 81% of the samples tested for COVID-19 in the city and the new variant of concern is the reason behind the surge in the number of coronavirus cases in the capital.
Of the latest 187 Covid samples tested, 152 (81 per cent) had Omicron and 8.5 per cent had Delta, Jain told the Delhi Assembly.
The minister stressed that the home isolation policy is very effective in Omicron cases as most of the patients do not have any symptoms. A few of them have developed low-grade fever and cold but there has been no severe case due to Omicron.
(With inputs from agencies)
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