Covid-19 cases are ticking up again in parts of India and the world, albeit, the fatality rate remains largely under control.
The WHO’s emergency committee on Covid-19 on Wednesday unanimously affirmed that the virus remains a major public health danger and insisted that countries must stop dropping their guard.
With many nations relaxing public health and social measures, and drastically reducing testing for the virus, the World Health Organization’s group of experts said the pandemic was far from being at an end.
Surge in Cases in India
Delhi
Delhi on Wednesday recorded a steep rise of nearly 50 per cent in daily Covid cases over the previous day while no new death was recorded.
According to the health bulletin, the city registered 299 cases during the past 24 hours, as against 202 cases. As many as 12,022 people were tested for the infection of which 2.49 per cent were found positive.
Currently, there are 504 Covid patients under home isolation while 11 are admitted at hospitals.
Covid positivity rate in Delhi had jumped from 0.5 per cent to 2.70 per cent in one week, even as doctors on Tuesday had said it was “not a panic situation” as the daily case count was still low but cautioned against dropping the guard.
No health bulletin was issued on Tuesday. On Monday, the positivity rate was 2.70 per cent — the highest in two months. The test positivity rate had stood at 2.87 per cent on February 5.
With an uptick in daily cases and a significant rise in the positivity rate over the last few days, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday had said the city government was keeping a watchful eye on the COVID-19 situation and there was no reason to worry until a new variant of concern is detected.
Mumbai
Mumbai on Wednesday reported 73 new COVID-19 cases, the highest in a day after March 17 this year, taking the overall tally to 10,58,567, the city civic body said.
With no fresh fatality due to COVID-19, the death toll in Mumbai remained unchanged at 19,560, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) bulletin said. 68 out of 73 patients are asymptomatic and five others are admitted to hospitals. COVID-19 cases have been rising steadily since the start of this week on Monday, when Mumbai had recorded 23 cases, as per the data. A day earlier Mumbai had logged 52 cases and zero fatalities.
The metropolis has been registering below 100 cases per day since March 3 this year. With the rise in the daily cases, the case positivity rate of Mumbai rose to 0.007 per cent from 0.005 per cent. In the last 24 hours, 9,970 COVID-19 tests were conducted, taking the total number of samples tested so far in Mumbai to 1,67,45,172, the bulletin said.
With 51 patients discharged after treatment, the number of recoveries in Mumbai rose to 10,38,676 with a recovery rate of 98 per cent, leaving the city with 331 active cases. The case doubling rate now stands at 16,538 days, while the overall growth rate of cases between April 6 to April 12 was 0.004 per cent, it said. Notably, only 13 of the total 26,151 COVID-19 hospital beds remain occupied as of Wednesday in Mumbai.
The metropolis has been free of any sealed buildings and containment zones for a long time.
NOIDA
The Gautam Buddh Nagar health department on Monday issued an advisory to schools as 10 more children tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of minors who got infected this week to over 20 in the district. All schools across Noida and Greater Noida have been advised to immediately inform the health department about any child with cough, cold, fever, diarrhoea or showing any symptom of COVID-19 for timely treatment.
One of the schools, which had reported infection to 13 children and three teachers on Monday, has switched to the online mode till next week. Details of other schools could not be confirmed even as it was learnt that the 10 children who have now tested positive for COVID-19 belong to different schools. In a statement, the health department said 33 more people, including the 10 children, have tested positive for the infection since Tuesday morning and the total number of active cases in the district, adjoining Delhi, now stands at 90.
“Of the new cases reported today, 10 are children. We have not got any information from their schools, neither were the COVID-19 tests held in their schools. The schools have not reported the cases. Had it been so, they would have discontinued physical classes and we would also have issued an advisory,” Chief Medical Officer Dr Sunil Kumar Sharma told a TV news channel. In view of the increasing cases, the health department has issued an advisory on reporting of school students catching COVID-19 or showing its symptoms in a preventive measure against the pandemic.
Pondy’s 13-day COVID-19 Free Streak Ends as 2 Test Positive for Virus
Puducherry reported two new cases of COVID19 on Wednesday, breaking the union territory’s nearly twoweek long streak of no community transmission. Two girl students of a private medical college in Karaikal were among those who were examined by health authorities and were found to be positive for the disease. “Both the students were under quarantine. The Health Department is examining all the students of the college,” Director of Health G Sriramulu told PTI.
Where Does World Stand
United States
Covid-19 cases are soaring in the northeast of the US as the BA.2 Omicron subvariant took hold of the region.
The northeast recorded at least 126 new infections per 100,000 people last week, doubling the rate one month ago, according to a report in The Washington Post.
New infections in the Northeast were more than twice as high as in the west, midwest and southeast last week, according to federal data.
The BA.2 Omicron subvariant now makes up more than 85 per cent of new Covid-19 cases in the US, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
New Zealand
New Zealand recorded 9,495 new community cases of Covid on Wednesday, the country’s Ministry of Health said in a statement.
Of the new community infections, 1,828 were detected in the largest city of Auckland, according to the ministry.
In addition, 47 new cases of Covid were detected at the New Zealand border, said the ministry, Xinhua news agency reported.
Currently, 551 patients are being treated in New Zealand hospitals, including 27 in intensive care units. The ministry also reported 15 more deaths from Covid.
China
China on Thursday reported 29,317 new daily coronavirus cases, the most since the start of the pandemic.
China’s financial centre of Shanghai started easing its lockdown in some areas on Monday despite reporting a record of more than 25,000 new COVID-19 infections, as authorities sought to get the city moving again after more than two weeks.
Pressure has been mounting on authorities in China’s most populous city, and one of its wealthiest, from residents growing increasingly frustrated as the curbs dragged on, leaving some struggling to find enough food and medicine.
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