Delhi Covid tally stays above 400, experts fear a new wave

New Delhi, March 14 (IANS For the fourth day in a row, Delhi on Sunday recorded over 400 cases of Covid-19, raising concerns among experts.

The national capital reported 407 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the infection tally to 6,43,696, while the positivity rate stood at 0.60 per cent, as per the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department.

The death count climbed to 10,941 with two more fatalities, the bulletin said.

The capital logged 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.

A total of 370 cases were reported on Wednesday and 320 on Tuesday.

A total of 585 cases were reported on January 1 and 424 on January 3. However, the numbers had started to come down in February and had fallen below 100 on more than one occasion.

The number of active cases of the disease in the city rose to 2,262 from 2,207 on Saturday, while the positivity rate continued to stand at 0.60 per cent.

However, the Delhi government does not find the incumbent rise alarming. Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Friday that the figures of over 400 per day were “not alarming”, and asserted that the positivity rate was still below one per cent.

In contrast to the statement, health experts cautioned that the cases may soon turn into a wave if stringent measures are not taken.

Dr Lalit Kant, former head of the Epidemiological and Communicable Diseases Department at the ICMR, said that repetitive communication to make people aware that the pandemic is very much here is important.

“Besides, the government must reinforce the strict measures of compounding on disregard of Covid appropriate behaviour,” he added.

Dr Suneela Garg, advisor to the 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.

Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from IANS service.