Delhi: Dip in Covid cases but not death rate, experts urge caution

On Monday, the city saw 564 new cases of Covid-19, the lowest single-day spike since May 26. The death toll reached 10,474 with 21 new fatalities recorded in a day.

For the last four days, Delhi has been reporting less than 1,000 cases of Covid-19 per day even as the number of tests being conducted continue to set a new benchmark. Between December 24 and December 28, the city saw a total of 3,797 cases of Covid-19 after testing 3,75,457 people during the same period — a positivity rate of 1%.

On Monday, the city saw 564 new cases of Covid-19, the lowest single-day spike since May 26. The death toll reached 10,474 with 21 new fatalities recorded in a day. The death rate based on the last 10 days has been recorded at 2.95%, higher than the national average of 1.45%. On May 26, the city had recorded 412 new cases.

With New Year celebrations around the corner, though, experts are urging the public to take adequate precautions and continue following social distancing rules and Covid-appropriate behaviour.

“People should not let their guard down during the celebrations. We had seen a massive spike in the number of cases during November due to Diwali and Dussehra celebrations. The cases, at the moment, are on a lower side and we should continue to maintain that,” said Dr Sujeet Singh, head of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

A report prepared by NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul and AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria had also warned against a rise due to the coming celebrations. The report submitted to the Delhi government also said that more severe cases of Covid-19 have been observed in the last few days.

The experts said that they are ready to review the situation again on January 15 to understand the impact, if any, of the UK strain and overall impact of the New Year celebrations, which might have settled by that time.

Meanwhile, 31 patients who have either returned from the UK or are contacts of the returnees are undergoing treatment at Lok Nayak Hospital, which has been made the nodal centre for treatment of passengers with a travel history to the country.

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