Delhi is on the verge to report 10,000 new Covid-19 cases today on Wednesday, alerted Health Minister Satyendar Jain. The positivity rate – the number of a sample testing positive for every 100 tests- is likely to jump to 10 per cent in the national capital, he further said.
The positivity rate on Tuesday was 8.3 percent, significantly higher than 6.46 percent on Monday.
“For Delhi, it is the fifth wave,” said the Delhi Health Minister, saying a third wave has been set in In India.
Mr Jain said that though the symptoms of the highly infectious variant Omicron are mild, the people should follow all Covid- related protocols.
40 percent of beds in private hospitals have been reserved for the covid patients so that the health system of the national capital is not overwhelmed by the increasing cases, he said.
Mr Jain also added that only 300-400 samples from Delhi are sent for genome sequencing as the same is not possible for the larger number of sample sets.
“It was just an academic exercise… Now we know that Omicron has spread in the country, only 300-400 samples are being sent for genome sequencing,” Mr Jain said.
The national capital reported 5,481 cases of coronavirus yesterday and three related deaths.
The government announced a series of fresh curbs yesterday to contain the spread.
In Delhi, a weekend curfew has been imposed, and work from home for government offices has been set in place.
Private offices in the capital are said to function at 50 percent capacity. Buses and the Delhi metro will run on 100% capacity so that long queues are not made on bus stands and metro stations.
Delhi Chief Minister –Arvind Kejriwal, had stated that his government is prepared to manage up to one lakh Covid cases every day. The concept in Delhi includes a Covid war room that will keep track of bed occupancy, patients, oxygen, and other data by district and hospital.
“There is nothing to worry. Make masks your shield,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.
Government sources warned on Wednesday, keeping the present trend in mind, Delhi might see 20-25,000 cases per day by mid-January, with hospitalizations likely to rise.