The daily number of COVID cases in the national capital almost doubled on Wednesday, rising to 10,655 infections from 5,481 a day earlier, with the positivity rate shooting up to 11.88 per cent and eight deaths reported, the highest in nearly seven months, prompting the Delhi government to direct hospitals to immediately escalate their bed capacity.
The city government also cancelled the leaves of all officials in a bid to ensure adequate manpower to tackle a surge in coronavirus cases driven by Omicron.Health Minister Satyender Jain said that this is the fifth wave of COVID-19 to hit Delhi as cases are rapidly spreading due to the Omicron variant.The AAP government is constantly monitoring the situation and fully prepared to take any necessary steps, he said and added that at the moment, there will be no lockdown in Delhi, but some restrictions are required to ensure public health.
“Most patients in hospitals have mild symptoms and do not require oxygen support. The health department is monitoring the situation closely,” he said.However, according to official data, the number of COVID patients in hospitals in the city has also increased by 107 per cent in just two days — from 342 on Monday to 708 on Wednesday. The number stood at 482 on Tuesday.There are 22 patients in severe condition in hospitals compared to 7 on Monday and 14 on Tuesday. Out of 708 patients, 551 are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and do not require oxygen.The number of active cases on Wednesday also increased to 23,307 from 14,889 the day before.
A total of 2239 patients were discharged in a day.The positivity rate of 11.88 per cent is the highest since May 14 last year, when 12.4 per cent of the total tests conducted were positive.The number of 10,665 cases recorded on Wednesday is the highest since May 12 when 13,287 people were diagnosed with the disease.
The city also reported eight COVID deaths, the highest since June 26 when nine fatalities had been reported.Meanwhile, the Delhi government has cancelled the leaves of all its officials and staff and directed them not to leave the station in view of the COVID surge in the city, in a bid to ensure enough manpower to handle the arising situation.It is anticipated that the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic will be allowed in the national capital.Along with weekend curfew, night curfew will also continue to be in place during weekdays.
Covid cases zoom past 26K in Maha, 144 Omicron infectees Maharashtra’s single-day fresh Covid-19
For the ninth consecutive day, the state reported a massive spike in Covid infections and suspect cases, whose samples have been sent for genome sequencing.The state’s Covid count shot up sharply — from 18,466 on Tuesday to 26,538 on Wednesday – while fatalities decreased from 20 a day earlier to just 8 now, as its mortality rate stood at 2.09 per cent.After recording 75 Omicron infections on Tuesday, the state logged a staggering 144 more cases of the variant on Wednesday, taking up the state’s tally to 797, with Mumbai again reporting the highest number of fresh cases at 100, followed by 13 in Pune, 11 each in Thane and Nagpur, 5 in Kolhapur, 2 in Amravati, and 1 each in Raigad and Osmanabad.
The health authorities are continuing with their intensive surveillance of passengers arriving at the three international airports — at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur — since December 1.A total of 34,108 travellers landed here from the ‘high risk’ countries, of which 337 have tested positive, apart from 336 from other countries, and all their samples have been sent for genomic sequencing to confirm if they are afflicted by Omicron.Besides, another 2,541 samples from field surveys conducted since November 1 were sent for genomic sequencing of which the results of 102 are awaited, the officials said.
Omicron has spread extensively spanning several districts of the state, accounting for as many as 797 cases so far.Mumbai accounts for the maximum of 508 cases, followed by 148 in Pune, 56 in Thane, 24 in Nagpur, 18 in Raigad, 10 in Kolhapur, 8 in Satara, 6 in Osmanabad, 4 in Palghar, 3 each in Amravati and Nanded, 2 each in Buldhana, Aurangabad and Sangli, and 1 each in Akola, Latur and Ahmednagar.Of the 26,538 new Covid-19 cases reported on Wednesday, Mumbai Metropolitan Region alone accounted for 21,738 infections, with Mumbai city shooting past the 15,000-mark with 15,166 new cases.The next is Pune Circle’s 3,052 infectees, while all other districts moved up to triple-digit figures of infections with Nashik Circle at 655, Nagpur Circle 488, Kolhapur Circle 237, Latur Circle 139, Aurangabad Circle 115 and Akola Circle at 114.
The number of people sent to home quarantine also shot up by over one lakh, from 398,391 on Tuesday to 513,758 on Wednesday, while another 1,366 persons have been shunted to institutional quarantine.Mumbai, Pune and Thane remain at the top with the highest number of active cases, with the afflictions shooting up sharply from 66,308 a day earlier to 87,505 on Wednesday, with recovery rate dropping from 96.86 per cent a day earlier to 96.55 per cent now.The state’s cumulative figures of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic stands at 67,57,032 cases and 141,581 deaths, while 65,24,247 persons have fully recovered till date
