1,200+ cases; malls, religious places & weekly mkts declared 'superspreader'

New Delhi: Calling malls, cinema halls, weekly markets, Metro services and religious places "superspreader" areas, the Delhi government has directed all district magistrates to greatly intensify enforcement of COVID-19 norms in such places in view of a persistent rise in cases in the city.

Delhi reported 1,254 coronavirus cases on Wednesday, highest in over three months, while six more people succumbed to the disease.

In an order issued on Tuesday, Divisional Commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar had said areas where sero-surveillance was low should also be targeted with more intensive efforts.

He noted that guidelines and instructions have been issued from time to time for testing, surveillance, isolation, vaccination and COVID appropriate behaviour for the public in general, and people

venturing in weekly markets, transporting vehicles, malls, cinemas, religious and social gathering and banquet halls in particular.

"There are several superspreader areas like weekly markets, cinema, malls, metro services, religious places etc. All the district magistrates (DMs) should greatly intensify their enforcement efforts and IEC (information, education and communication) campaign in these areas," Khirwar said in the order. The divisional commissioner has also asked the DMs to personally monitor these activities and treat this upscaling of efforts as a matter of "top most priority". The order stated that the last fortnight has seen a persistent increase in coronavirus cases in Delhi and the positivity rate is also on the rise.

It has been observed that COVID appropriate behaviour is not being followed amongst the general public, it stated.

On Tuesday, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had ordered that there would be no public celebrations and gathering in the national capital for upcoming festivals such as Holi and Navaratri.

The DDMA has called for additional precautionary measures to prevent and control the rapid increase of cases in Delhi regarding people coming to the city from other states where COVID-19 cases have recently been rising significantly.

"All DDMA authorities will conduct random testing (RAT/RT-PCR) of passengers coming from the states where COVID-19 cases are surging, at all airports, railway stations, Inter-State Bus Terminals (ISBT) and other alighting points," it had said in another order on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the active cases rose to 4,890 on Wednesday from 4,411 from a day ago. The positivity remained rose to 1.52 per cent, the health bulletin said. The positivity rate was 1.31 per cent on Tuesday, 1.32 per cent on Monday and 1.03 per cent on Sunday. The new infections pushed the tally to 6,51,227, while over 6.35 lakh patients have recovered from the virus. Six more people died from the pathogen on Wednesday, taking the number of fatalities to 10,973. A total of 82,331 tests, including 52,224 RT-PCR tests, were conducted a day ago.

Over 23,000 beneficiaries received shots of COVID-19 vaccine in the national Capital by 6 pm on Wednesday, officials said.

Gautam Buddh Nagar district magistrate Wednesday directed health officials to conduct intensified sampling for Covid-19 at areas adjoining Delhi-Noida borders, bus stands, posh markets and metro stations, keeping in mind the spurt in Covid-19 cases in Delhi-NCR region in past couple of weeks. The district administration has also planned to perform random sampling of people at all the border areas adjoining Delhi and Noida. As per GB Nagar district magistrate Suhas LY, for any public functions, prior permission from the local police and concerned authority is mandatory.