Authorities ramp up measures to tackle spike in Covid-19 cases

New Delhi: Deploying more people for monitoring home isolation cases, restocking medicines and aggressive contact tracing to identify affected areas, district authorities have ramped up measures to tackle the current spike in Coronavirus cases in the national Capital.

According to a government doctor posted in the west district, they have directed all public health centres in the district to increase the number of teams deployed for monitoring home isolation cases.

"We have issued an order to increase the number of teams and have sought a report from them on it. We have also sought information from them on the available stocks of COVID-19 medicines and also if the stocks of any medications are running out. If there is a shortage of any medicines, we will put in the request with the DGHS," he said.

The official also said that health teams that interact with the patients have been asked to take minute details about travel history, location of offices and all the areas where the patient had visited three to four days before testing positive.

"After getting details like the location of the office and all the areas where the patient visited, we will be studying the COVID-19 trend there," he asserted.

The official also shared that they have also reviewed the status of the hospital beds, including those with oxygen and ventilator facilities.

"Despite the spike in cases, the hospitalisation rate is low. People with comorbidities are getting hospitalised and there are also instances where trauma patients or those coming for treatment of other illnesses turn out to be positive for the infection," he added.

On Monday, Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena held a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia to review the COVID-19 situation in the national capital. He directed officials to ensure genome sequencing of COVID-19 samples in Delhi to "proactively" detect the prevalence of any new variant amid an uptick in coronavirus cases in the city.

Underlining the need for enhanced testing coupled with a focus on the strategy of testing, tracking, treating and vaccinating to successfully fight the Covid pandemic, the L-G directed officials to ensure genome sequencing of the cases being reported to detect if there any new variant has emerged.

Another official posted in the New Delhi district said that at the public health centres, there is already testing on demand. "In view of the increase in cases, we have also started testing low-risk contacts of the patients, especially in those areas where the positivity rate is high.

Delhi recorded 1,118 fresh coronavirus cases on Tuesday, a rise of 82 per cent from the previous day, with a positivity rate of 6.50 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here. The city also reported two fatalities due to the viral disease, the data showed.

Tuesday's tally is the highest since May 10 this year when the national capital had recorded 1,118 cases, with a positivity rate of 4.38 per cent. Delhi had reported 1,422 fresh COVID-19 cases and zero fatality on May 8, while the positivity rate was recorded at 5.34 per cent.

This is the fifth consecutive day that Delhi has recorded over 600 cases in a day.

With the new cases reported on Tuesday, Delhi's overall tally of COVID-19 cases increased to 19,14,530 and the death toll stood at 26,223, the department said in its latest bulletin.

Meanwhile, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Delhi increased to 3,177 from 2,561 on Monday, the bulletin said. As many as 1,910 patients are under home isolation, up from 1,825 the previous day, it said, adding that there are 190 containment zones in the city, down from 191 on Monday.

There are 9,582 beds for COVID-19 patients in Delhi hospitals and 149 of these are occupied, up from 124 on Monday, the bulletin said.