New Delhi, March 15 : Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said that as long as the positivity rate is below 1 per cent, the Covid-19 situation will be under control in the national capital.
Jain also cited the parameters set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) which said that the outbreak is believed to be in controlled nature if its daily reporting stays below 5 per cent of the examination conducted.
“There are two benchmarks of positivity which could trigger a worry–5 per cent set by WHO and 1 per cent in general. There was a time when our positivity rate went beyond 15 per cent. However, the current positivity rate of Delhi is far from both parameters. The situation is under control now,” he added.
“Delhi’s positivity rate detected on Sunday was 0.6 per cent. However, if we compare, many states are reporting a manifold rise. Gujarat’s positivity rate is three times of Delhi, while Punjab reported six times more than us and Maharashtra has thirty times more the rate,” the Health Minister said.
For the fourth day in a row, Delhi on Sunday reported 407 new Covid cases, pushing the tally to 6,43,696, as per the health department data.
The positivity rate, which was limited to 0.3 per cent has now doubled in the capital.
As per records, the capital clocked 419 cases on Saturday, a day after recording the highest single-day spike in over two months with 431 cases on Friday, while the count on Thursday was 409.
Around 370 and 320 cases were reported on Wednesday and Tuesday respectively.
In contrast to the statement, health experts have cautioned that the cases may soon turn into a wave if stringent measures are not taken to contain the spread.
Lalit Kant, former Head of Epidemiological and Communicable Diseases department at ICMR, said that repetitive communication to make people aware of the pandemic is much important.
“Besides, the government must reinforce the strict measures of compounding on disregard of Covid appropriate behaviour,” he added.
Suneela Garg, Advisor to ICMR, said that contact tracing must be strengthened as well as micro containment strategy should be implemented to limit the infection spread.
“We need to test at least 30 contacts per case. Besides, micro containment would help in checking the spread pattern,” she added.
–IANS
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