Delhi: 4,000+ new cases as Health Min says Omicron driving surge; DDMA to meet today

New Delhi: The Capital on Monday reported 4,099 new Covid cases in 24 hours with a daily positivity rate of 6.46 per cent even as one more death from the virus was added to the city's toll and active cases in Delhi shot up to over 10,000 cases. Health minister Satyendar Jain said the surge is being driven by the Omicron variant as he revealed that more than 81 per cent of the new cases in the city were now of this variant of the Coronavirus.

The number of new cases and positivity rate in the city is the highest since May 18 and the city is now already past the point at which according to the Graded Response Action Plan, a total curfew is supposed to be imposed. However, the DDMA and Jain have maintained that since this variant is causing a very mild disease, there is no need to increase restrictions unless the bed occupancy starts rising beyond control.

But at the same time, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority has scheduled a key meet today (Tuesday) to discuss the need for more curbs in the Capital — a meeting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is expected to attend along with other senior officials.

A positivity rate of more than 5 per cent for two consecutive days will trigger a 'red alert' under the DDMA-approved Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) leading to a 'total curfew' and halting of most economic activities.

The number of cumulative cases on Monday stood at 14,58,220. Over 14.22 lakh patients have recovered from the infection. The death toll stood at 25,110. Nine COVID-19 deaths were reported in the city in December last year, and seven in November, according to official data.

Presenting the latest data to the Delhi Assembly on Monday, the Health minister revealed that Omicron had been found in 81 per cent of the samples tested in the latest set of genome sequencing and the new variant of concern is the reason behind the surge in Coronavirus cases in the national Capital. Of the latest 187 Covid samples tested, 152 had (81 per cent) Omicron and 8.5 per cent had Delta, he said. "So, Omicron is the variant spreading now and the share of other variants is very low," the minister said responding to a question of Leader of Opposition Ramvir Bidhuri.

He also told the Assembly that none of the Omicron-infected patients admitted to the city hospitals had required oxygen so far. Though there is a spike in the number of Covid cases, the situation is under control as not many people are developing severe symptoms or require hospitalisation, he said.

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.

"Till Sunday, there were around 8,000 active cases in Delhi and just 3.4 per cent 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," Jain said. He added that more restrictions will be imposed if the bed occupancy rate goes up.

Explaining the rationale for the existing "Yellow" level restrictions, under which public transport capacity is curtailed, schools are shut and gathering banned, Jain said: "People ask why Delhi has imposed such stringent curbs when no one else has done it. Delhi is the national capital and most of the international flights come to the city first. So it is better to have more restrictions here than anywhere else," he said.