Covid-19 cases: Delhi govt urges social distancing as cases spike

As Delhi continues to witness a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases, the Delhi government has now directed the district magistrates (DMs) to ensure that Covid-appropriate behaviour is being followed across the city.

The Delhi government further issued directions to 11 DMs of revenue districts, "to increase drives to issue challans in case people are not following social distancing norms."

According to a report by news agency PTI, experts have attributed this upward trend in the Covid cases to the carefree nature of people towards maintaining social distance and wearing masks. With the festive season nearing, experts are now worried about a sudden surge in the number of cases, owing to the laxity of the people.

According to a govt official, "We're implementing all possible measures to prevent the spread of the infection. At the same time, we also appeal to the citizens to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour in public and keep a check on their health".

The rate of hospital admission has also gone slightly up in the national capital, but it is among those who have some sort of co-morbidities or are unvaccinated, said the report.

While the govt officials are constantly trying to encourage people to the precautionary booster dose, a doctor, requesting anonymity, added, "it needs to be studied whether there are any mutants that are more transmissible to ascertain whether this surge is being caused by them."

Delhi has been reporting over 2,000 cases for the last couple of days with the positivity rate inching closer to 15 per cent. On Saturday, the city witnessed 2,423 Covid cases against 2,311 reported on previous day, and two further deaths.

The increase in Covid infections in the national capital is coupled with the fact that as many as 63 per cent of people based in Delhi-NCR did not undergo any test despite showing Covid-like symptoms in the last month.

The survey, which was released by a digital community-based platform LocalCircles also added, "While 25 per cent of the respondents said they opted for Rapid Antigen Test, the response of 12 per cent was 'both RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Test'.

The community feedback hints at the fact that 2 out of 3 people are either not getting tested or taking the treatment, while one-third of people are opting for the self-kit to test themselves at home.