Third wave of COVID has already hit Delhi: Health Minister Satyendar Jain

The third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has already hit New Delhi as the state expects to register more than 10,000 fresh cases of the virus on Wednesday, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said in a statement. 

The Health Minister added that testing has also been boosted statewide, with around 90,000 samples collected on Tuesday. He also said that Delhi’s positivity rate is expected to climb beyond 10%, which would mean 10 out of 100 people being tested for the virus would be getting positive results.

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Multiple media reports suggest that the positivity rate of the national capital has observed a constant uptick through the week. According to NDTV reports, the rate stood at 6.46% on Monday, climbing to 8.3% on Tuesday.

“For Delhi, it is the fifth wave”, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said.

He added that the genome sequencing of all the COVID samples collected in Delhi is not possible right now and more than 300 are being sequenced, news agency PTI reported. The city government has activated a COVID-19 war room which will maintain district and hospital-wise data about bed occupancy, patients, oxygen.

A day before the announcement, the Delhi government announced new restrictions to curb the spread of COVID-19. Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced that a weekend curfew will be put in place.

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Delhi had earlier imposed night restrictions as the omicron variant boosted the capital’s caseload, however, the curbs will extend the curfew to daytime. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also tested positive for COVID-19 earlier on Tuesday.

Media reports suggest that Delhi may see ‘red alert’ restrictions if the positivity rate stays above 5% for two consecutive days under the new Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP). This category will enforce stricter restrictions like shutting down of non-essential services, boosted curbs on public transport, funerals and weddings.