Omicron accounts for 46 per cent of the 115 Covid-19 samples analysed in the national capital and the new, fast-spreading variant of concern is gradually spreading in the community, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday. He said Delhi hospitals have 200 Covid patients of which 102 belong to the city.
Jain also defended the stringent “yellow alert” in the national capital amid a spike in Covid-19 and Omicron cases, saying the need of the hour was to be precautious.
“Only Delhi has taken strict measures in the whole country. For those people who are saying too many restrictions have been put in Delhi, it is better to be precautious. Maximum international travellers come to Delhi. If the Centre had banned international flights earlier, Omicron would not have entered India,” said Jain.
A yellow alert was sounded in Delhi on Tuesday amid surge in city’s Covid cases and Omicron fear. The alert under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) led to imposition on restrictions in the national capital, which included closing of schools, colleges, cinema halls, gyms and spas. Metro trains and buses are allowed to operate with 50% capacity.
Announcing the alert, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had assured the city that the government is “10 times more prepared” than before to deal with the rise in Covid cases. He added that the latest Covid-19 cases were mild and there was no increase in the consumption of oxygen or the use of ventilators despite the rise in numbers.
As India saw the highest single day rise of 180 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, taking the total tally of such infections in the country to 961 on Thursday, Delhi recorded the maximum cases (263) followed by Maharashtra at 252, Gujarat 97, Rajasthan 69, Kerala 65 and Telangana 62.
Covid-19 cases in Delhi are increasing more rapidly than in the second wave that pushed the health infrastructure of the national capital to the brink April-May this year. The rise in cases comes with the spread of the new Omicron variant, flagged by global health authorities as more transmissible than the Delta variant which had triggered the second wave.
On Wednesday, Delhi reported 923 fresh Covid-19 cases, a jump of more than 10 times since December 20 when the city had reported 91 fresh cases.
The Delhi State Health Bulletin for Covid-19, released by the city’s Health Department every day since the outbreak of the infection, shows that between March 13 and March 22 this year, the daily cases had doubled from 419 to 888. This period is taken for comparison vis-à-vis the current rise since from March 23, the daily cases had crossed the 1,000-mark.
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