India recorded the highest spike in COVID-19 cases in the last six months with 3,095 new cases reported in the past 24 hours. As a result, the Centre has urged states to increase testing, conduct whole genome sequencing of positive samples, and strengthen surveillance.
Amidst a rise in Covid cases in various parts of India, the Delhi government has called for an emergency meeting on Friday. The meeting will be attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj, the Health Secretary, and other government officials.
In the last 24 hours, Delhi has witnessed 295 new cases, and the city’s Covid positivity rate has jumped to 12.48 percent. On Wednesday, the city had recorded 300 cases, the highest in the last six months.
“If required, masks may become mandatory in crowded places in Delhi. We are also in touch with the governments of neighboring states Haryana and UP,” said an officer from the Delhi government who spoke to The New Indian.
The upcoming IPL match scheduled in Delhi might also be a cause of concern for the Delhi government.
Over the past few days, the Delhi government has been preparing to tackle the situation if the number of cases continues to rise, including preparing for hospitalizations. For this purpose, the health department has conducted mock drills to assess hospital preparedness.
The Delhi government officials said the meeting would be held in the afternoon, and the results of the mock drill would be announced. The government may consider imposing restrictions and making masks mandatory.
As of now, India’s active caseload stands at 15,208 with a recovery rate of 98.78%. The nationwide vaccination drive has administered 220.65 crore total vaccine doses, with 6,553 doses given in the past 24 hours. In addition, there were 1,390 recoveries reported in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate is 2.61% and the weekly positivity rate is 1.91%.