The minister's remarks comes after Gujarat reported its first case of the XE variant of coronavirus. (File) With just over 5,000 Covid tests conducted Sunday, Delhi’s positivity rate climbed to 2.77% — the highest since February 5.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, however, said this was not a cause for concern as the rate of hospitalisation was down.
“We are closely monitoring the Covid situation in Delhi. There is no need to focus on the infection rate at the moment, as the number of hospital admissions is decreasing day by day and the total daily cases falling between 100 and 200… There is no need to panic. The only way to prevent the virus from spreading is to take precautions and follow all the protocols related to Covid at all times,” he said.
On Monday, 137 cases were reported in the city. There are 47 people in hospital at present — 30 of them with suspected Covid. Out of the remaining 17, 5 are in ICU and 6 on oxygen support. No one is on ventilator support at present.
Speaking about the XE variant of the novel coronavirus, Jain said, “The XE variant is yet to be classified as a variant of concern. New variants of the virus are being discovered around the world almost every other day, and many more will emerge as time passes. We have to understand that unless a variant is deemed as a ‘variant of concern’ by the WHO, we need not be worried about it, However, we still need to keep our guard up and follow the rules pertaining to the pandemic.”
The Delhi government lifted all Covid related restrictions earlier this month, also removing the penalty of Rs 500 for not wearing masks in public places. Jain said Monday that changes are made to policy based on the number of cases.
“Cases have gone down substantially and hospital admissions have followed suit as well. Only around 47 people were admitted into hospitals, which is a significant fall in numbers from around 150 people being admitted a month ago. We have to understand that Covid is here to stay and we have to learn to live with it and make changes to our policies accordingly,” he said.
The Covid positivity rate in Delhi has seen a gradual but steady increase over the past week. According to doctors and government officials, this is because only those people who are coming to hospitals and testing centres with respiratory or flu-like symptoms are specifically seeking out RT PCR test. Random testing in public places has fallen significantly.
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