Representative picture
(YOU)
After a plateau over the past two months, COVID-19 cases appear to have seen a rapid rise again in Delhi since last week. Delhi reported 517 new COVID-19 infections in 24 hours on Sunday, followed by 501 cases on Monday.
On Monday, the positivity rate jumped further to 7.72% – a sharp rise from the 4.21% reported on Sunday evening. Fortunately, however, no new deaths were reported on Monday. The death rate stood at 1.4%, according to the bulletin published on Sunday evening.
According to data from the city’s health department, the positivity rate in the last week between April 10 and April 18 increased sixfold. With the new cases, the number of infections in Delhi has risen to 18.7 lakh, while the death toll stands at 26,000.
A survey by a private company named LocalCircles reported that the spread has increased by 500% in the past 15 days. Further, the survey also revealed that around 19% of Delhi-NCR participants shared that someone in their close social circuit had tested positive for the virus infection.
On Monday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the situation was not alarming as the hospitalization rate was low. “Majority of Delhi’s population is now vaccinated. We are constantly monitoring the situation,” he told a news conference.
Stressing that wearing masks is essential to prevent infection, he said a school protocol had already been prepared. In recent days, nearly 100 schoolchildren in the NCR region of the capital have tested positive. Experts have attributed this spike in infections to the opening of schools and low vaccination rates among children.
“COVID-19 cases are showing a rapid increase in the pediatric group right now, especially in our NCR area because children have started attending school. They are not vaccinated yet because the vaccine is still on trial for the under-12 age group,” said Dr. Col. Indian Spine Injury Center Senior Consultant Vijay Dutta at IANS.
(Contributions from IANS and Times of India)
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