New Delhi: As the Capital continued to maintain its daily positivity rate of Covid cases under 0.5 per cent on Friday, the Delhi government reported 93 new infections in the past 24 hours and two more deaths due to the virus bringing the number of active cases further down to 1,041.
And as the city prepares for a possible third wave of infections here, an expert committee specifically mandated to oversee the readiness of the health infrastructure has now suggested a colour-coded response strategy as cases start rising — if they do.
The committee comprises eight members, which include top bureaucrats of the state government, doctors and heads of various hospitals. According to the proposal recommended by them, which is yet to be cleared by L-G Anil Baijal's office, it has been agreed to notify each degree of severity through four colours — yellow, amber, orange, and red — each alert signifying the severity of the pandemic at any given time and the restrictions that will be put in place.
Officials have said that these alerts will each have their own set of preventive measures and restrictions much like the alerts system used for tracking and curbing air pollution.
Significantly, a similar colour-coded response strategy was adopted by Singapore in February last year just as the pandemic was beginning there. There too, each colour dictated the severity of the spread of the virus and the restrictions that came with it.
According to officials here in Delhi who have been quoted in multiple news reports, the yellow alert — the lowest one — will kick in when the test positivity ratio remains above 0.5 per cent for two days in a row or the average number of oxygen beds occupied crosses 500 in a week or if cumulative new cases for a week go beyond 1,500.
Similarly, the red alert — the highest level — will kick in when the daily positivity rate remains above 5 per cent for two days in a row or when the cumulative new infections cross 16,000 in a week.
The second wave saw authorities in Delhi scramble to arrange for the healthcare needs of the population here as many kept dying for want of basic medical attention.
At that time, when cases were gradually increasing, several ministers, including Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that locking down the city was not an option but authorities had to quickly go back on this and impose a second lockdown as cases spiraled out of control.