As Delhi witnesses a sudden spurt in Covid cases, experts have stressed that there is no need to panic over the absolute numbers and the focus should be on protecting the vulnerable population, especially those who are immunocompromised or have comorbidities. They have also advised people to remain cautious by masking up and avoiding public gatherings.
Delhi recorded 416 fresh Covid cases on Saturday, the highest in over seven months, with a positivity rate of 14.37 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department. While the government did not issue a bulletin on Friday, the numbers on Thursday stood at 295 while the positivity rate was at 12.48 per cent.
“Since there is a surge, patients admitted (for other ailments) are being tested and they are turning out to be Covid positive.”
He explained that since the variant XBB.1.6 has a “growth advantage”, so there is an increase in cases.
“Our focus should be on looking for clinical cases rather than laboratory-tested cases. For India, there is a 30-fold increase in cases but the daily deaths have not increased in that proportion. We should not worry about the actual number of cases but clinical outcomes.”It is time we should focus on an integrated approach of clinical, epidemiological and genomic one. All three should be reviewed together to reach a conclusion,” he said.
Following a review meeting on Friday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that only three deaths have been reported over the last four-five days.
In all three patients, co-morbidities were “very severe” and it has been assessed that the fatality was due to co-morbidities and perhaps Covid was “incidental”, but one can’t say that.
Lahariya also said that is no cause for worry till the time a new variant of concern emerges somewhere in the world or if there is a change in clinical outcomes like an increase in hospitalisation.
“It is flu season and we should protect the vulnerable population. We will see a similar fall or rise in seasonal illnesses and we need to be prepared,” he stressed.
Dr Suresh Kumar, medical director of the state-run LNJP Hospital, said, “There are eight patients currently in our hospital and one of them is on ventilator support while others are on oxygen support. The age group ranges from 25 to 64. Fifty per cent have comorbidities and the rest don’t. All of them are doubly vaccinated barring one.
“This strain overcomes vaccination. It spreads faster but it produces mild illness. Only in some cases, it is severe, mostly in those who have comorbidities. Most of the patients are those who have had previous infections.”
When asked if a peak can be expected, he said, “Any virus has a cycle of four to six weeks. It is a new variant so we can’t say that a peak will come soon but it was the trend in previous waves that cases used to tart declining after reaching the peak in four to six weeks.”