Third wave has set in, says Delhi Health Min as city adds 8 deaths & over 10K cases

New Delhi: The third wave of Covid-19 pandemic has hit Delhi and the Capital is expected to record 10,000 new cases and 10 per cent positivity on Wednesday, Health minister Satyendar Jain disclosed hours before the health bulletin later that day revealed that the city had reported eight more deaths from the virus in one day.

The official figures showed that 10,665 new cases had been detected in the last 24 hours with a daily positivity rate of 11.88 per cent. Meanwhile, active cases in the city rose dramatically to over 23,300, as per Wednesday's health bulletin. Importantly, it reflects data from a day before it is issued. The figures showed that the city's death toll had now increased to 25,121.

While urging people to strictly follow all Covid protocol, the Health minister added that now only samples of hospitalised patients are being sent for genome sequencing as the surge was largely being driven by the Omicron variant and that there was no point testing every positive case for the same.

Besides, the city's genome sequencing capacity is not enough to cater to the sheer number of positive cases being detected daily now. "Delhi is expected to record around 10,000 new cases with a positivity rate of around 10 per cent... The third wave has started in the city," Jain said.

He said the Delhi government had been sending samples of all COVID-19 patients for genome sequencing to determine if the Omicron variant had spread in the country. "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," Jain said.

The minister said testing for COVID-19 has been increased and nearly 90,000 tests have been conducted on Tuesday. But even amid the steep rise, Jain insisted that this variant was less dangerous than the Delta variant.

He said: "People coming from abroad are the ones who are most affected by the Omicron variant. Until now, no patient is in critical need of oxygen, and the majority of patients have mild symptoms." He added that their government is keeping a close eye on the situation and that this was the fifth wave of Covid in the Capital.

Jain added: "There will be no lockdown in Delhi for the time being; construction work will continue as usual; there is no need for workers to panic; some restrictions have been imposed in the interest of public health. Delhi has taken the most stringent steps in the country to stop Corona, such as weekend curfew, shutting down colleges and schools."

"For the time being, the situation in Delhi is under control," Jain said. 

The minister urged people to wear masks and practice social distancing in public places for their own safety, and he insisted that there is no need to panic about Corona because prevention is better than cure. "The Omicron variant is just a variant of Corona, and the treatment and prevention protocol is the same as before. Everyone should put on masks and practise social distancing," he said, adding that everyone should get vaccinated.

However, the number of patients in Delhi's hospitals is increasing — faster now than it was a week before, according to the Delhi government's own data. According to the Delhi Corona application, which displays bed availability in real-time, over 900 Covid-19 beds were occupied in hospitals and 900 oxygen beds were taken as of 7.30 pm on Wednesday.