Surge after 4-day hiatus; Delhi logs 27,561 cases, 40 deaths, 26% positivity highest since June 2021
After a few days of dip, Covid-19 cases once again spiked in a big way in Delhi and Mumbai, proving wrong those who believed the pandemic might have peaked in these two cities. Bengaluru has also registered a sharp surge and overall situation in Karnataka is equally grim.
Delhi on Wednesday logged 27,561 fresh Covid cases, which is a 29 per cent rise over in the last 24 hours and the most number of cases in a day since April. The positivity rate has touched 26 per cent, which is the highest in seven months. The number of single-day count has doubled in just two days. On April 20 last year, the city reported 28,395 cases.
The fatality is also increasing in the national Capital. Delhi reported 40 Covid deaths on Wednesday, which is the most since June 10, when it reported 44 deaths. According to the health bulletin, active Covid cases stood at 87,445, highest in the last eight months. The case count stood at 87,907 on May 8 last year.
Similarly, Mumbai reported 16,420 new Covid cases during the last 24 hours on Wednesday, a rise of 40 per cent (4,773) from Tuesday. The positivity rate shot up to 24.38 per cent from 18.75 per cent.
Overall, Maharashtra reported 46,000 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, almost 12000 more than Tuesday. The State positivity rate currently stands at 21.4 per cent. At present, there are around 2.25 lakh active cases in the State.
State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said, “More than 2.25 lakh active cases in the State, total 86% are in-home quarantine, while less than 1% people are on oxygen support.”
“Many people are doing self rapid antigens testing, so I request if they are doing self-testing then one must inform the local authorities too,” he added.
The sharp rise came after four days of decline in daily cases. Tuesday was the fourth day in a row when Mumbai witnessed a dip in daily Covid-19 infections. Of the 16,420 new cases, 83 per cent patients are asymptomatic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said in its daily release.
Meanwhile, as many as 21,390 more people tested positive for Covid-19 across Karnataka in the last 24 hours, taking the state’s positivity rate to 10.96 per cent, said State Health Minister K Sudhakar on Wednesday. Of them, Bengaluru accounted for 15,617 new cases, which is a 44 per cent hike in daily infections as compared to Tuesday. The city also saw six deaths.
Meanwhile, the Centre on Wednesday asked people to strictly follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and said the current pandemic in India is driven by Omicron and it is not common cold. The World Health Organization (WHO) too cautioned against treating Covid-19 as an endemic illness like flu, rather than as a pandemic.
Officials from the Union Health Ministry said that daily positivity rate has shot up from 1 per cent a few days ago to 11 per cent. The test positivity rate -- the percentage of all coronavirus tests performed that turn out to be positive -- is an important metric through which the public health system keeps a tab on the level of Covid-19 transmission.
“Some cities are reporting even higher percentages like 25, 30 per cent and even 60 per cent in some places,” said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary (Health), at a press conference here as he pointed out that as many as 300 districts in India are reporting weekly Covid case positivity of more than 5 per cent.
In fact, Ahmedabad district in Gujarat has reported 21.5 per cent Covid-19 positivity rate as compared to the State’s average of around eight per cent, as per the district-wise test figures released on Wednesday. Besides, the positivity rate in Surat is over 11 per cent, also higher than the state’s average.
Agarwal urged people not to treat infection due to Omicron variant as the common cold and get vaccinated. It said Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Gujarat are emerging as States of concern due to the rise in Covid cases there.
Concurrently, Covid cases have been rising globally with January 10 recording the highest ever single-day rise of 31.59 lakh cases worldwide, he said
He said, “Emerging States of concern reporting high positive rates are Maharashtra with a positivity rate of 22.39 per cent, West Bengal 32.18 per cent, Delhi 23.1 per cent and Uttar Pradesh (UP) 4.47 per cent. India’s Omicron tally is at 4,868, with Maharashtra topping the list.”
While addressing the media, Niti Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul said, “Omicron is not common cold, it’s our responsibility to slow it down. Let’s Mask Up and get vaccinated, whoever is due. It’s a fact they (vaccines) are helpful to an extent. Vaccination critical pillar of our Covid response.”
Dr Paul also said that there should be a rational approach for medicine use. “We are concerned about the overuse and misuse of drugs. Don’t overuse, it will have aftermath. Have warm water, do gargles in home care,” he further added.
All symptomatic cases, including risk contacts, to be tested for Covid, said ICMR chief Dr Balram Bhargava, adding that asymptomatic cases are not required to get tested unless they are at high risk. “Home quarantine is mandatory for all contacts for 7 days as per guidelines,” he said.
India added 1,94,720 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 3,60,70,510 which includes 4,868 cases of Omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. The active cases increased to 9,55,319, the highest in 211 days, while the death toll climbed to 4,84,655 with 442 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.