Written By: Satata Karmakar | Published : April 8, 2021 9:41 AM IST
New COVID-19 Wave More Dangerous For Adults: Warns Delhi Minister
With the exponential surge in COVID-19 cases over the last few weeks in the national capital already a cause of concern, the current wave of coronavirus spreading among people aged between 20 to 45 years shows the need to vaccinate all age groups, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Wednesday. "As per the new trend, the virus is fast spreading among the people aged between 20 to 45 years. They may not get affected much but can pose a threat to the elderly at home. Therefore, the vaccination should now be made available to all ages," he said at a press conference.
About the massive surge in the capital, he said that the way new infections are spreading might break the previous record. Delhi on Wednesday reported 5,506 new Covid-19 infections, the highest after November 27 last year when 5,482 cases were reported. On November 11 last year, Delhi had reported 8,593 cases, the highest single-day spike to date for the city.
Meanwhile, the country on Wednesday registered 1,15,736 new infections in the last 24 hours, the biggest single-day surge since the onset of the pandemic early last year. According to the minister, with a steep increase in new Covid-19 cases, the Delhi government has increased around 2,000 beds in both government and private hospitals, and an additional 2,000-2,500 beds will be increased by the next week.
Amid the Covid resurgence across the country, a night curfew has been imposed in Delhi from Tuesday till April 30 where everything will be closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Talking about the effectiveness of the night curfew, Jain said: "We cannot impose night curfew in certain parts, it has to be applied to all of Delhi. However, it has been done for the time being. We will analyze the impact. It is not a harsh decision, it will start from 10 p.m. and people generally finish their work by then."
The minister also made it clear that taxis are allowed and if someone is coming from outside and has valid tickets, they can travel. "For restaurants and hotels, the timing is anyway 11 p.m. I believe that the condition of the virus is not mellow, so we have to be aware and careful. People talk in extremes, either they are in favour of a complete lockdown or none at all. There has to be a middle ground as well."
The Centre has been urging the states to speed up vaccination and ensure strict compliance of COVID-appropriate behaviour and restrictions to check the alarming surge. Experts have opined that these steps are key to staving off the infection chain.
Eight states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have shown a rise in the COVID daily new cases accounting for 80.70 percent of the new cases reported in a day. India's total active caseload, as of Wednesday morning, increased to 8,43,473 and now comprises 6.59 percent of the country's total cases.
Fifty high-level central teams have been rushed to Maharashtra, Punjab, and Chhattisgarh to assist the states in COVID control and management measures. These teams will be stationed in the states for 3-5 days.
Experts say there could be various factors at play -- immune escape variants that are not detected by antibodies, laxity due to less fear of COVID-19 infection, and a largely susceptible population.
(With inputs from Agencies)
