'No need to panic but...': Amid Covid surge, Delhi govt says hospitals on alert

Amid a spike in Covid cases, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on Thursday said there was no need to panic over the rising positivity rate in the city but people with flu-like symptoms should wear masks. He said even though the positivity rate was higher, the number of tests was low. "Positivity rate (of Covid cases) is higher than 10 per cent, but the number of tests is low. There is no need to panic," the minister said.

Addressing a press conference, Bhardwaj said people with flu-like symptoms and those visiting hospitals should wear masks. "Hospitals have conducted mock drills...one advisory has come from the Centre, but we have already done the drill during which our preparation for oxygen cylinders, LMO (Liquid Medical Oxygen) were inspected," he said.

The minister said that the results of mock drills will be shown in a presentation to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has called a Covid review meeting on Friday.

Earlier in the day, an emergency meeting of the government to review the Covid situation was chaired by Saurabh Bharadwaj. He said the meeting was on the instructions of Delhi CM Kejriwal. "As of now, there is no discussion on any restrictions," he said while speaking to the news agency ANI.

Delhi has witnessed a sharp rise in the number of cases over the last few days and positivity has surged to nearly 14 per cent amid a sharp rise in H3N2 influenza cases in the country. On Wednesday, the city reported 300 infection cases - the highest in seven months. Two Covid-related deaths were also reported. The national capital had reported 377 cases on August 31 last along with two fatalities, while the positivity rate was 2.58 per cent.

The number of fresh cases had seen a decline over the last few months in Delhi. It had dropped to zero on January 16, the first time since the pandemic broke out.  With the fresh cases, Delhi's infection tally has increased to 20,09,361, while the death toll stands at 26,526.

Today, India witnessed a single-day rise of 3,016 fresh cases, the highest in nearly six months. This has pushed the number of active cases to 13,509, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Thursday. A total of 3,375 cases were recorded on October 2 last year.

The country's Covid death toll has increased to 5,30,862 with 14 latest fatalities -- three reported by Maharashtra, two from Delhi, and one reported by Himachal Pradesh in a span of 24 hours and eight reconciled by Kerala. The daily positivity was recorded at  2.73 per cent, while the weekly positivity was at 1.71 per cent.

(With inputs from PTI)