Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal called a meeting with top officials on Tuesday to review the Covid-19 situation and discuss if the Capital needs more travel curbs and other restrictions to check the rising number of cases, people aware of the matter said. It comes a day after 331 cases with a 0.68% positivity rate were reported.
The administration is deliberating on whether to impose additional restrictions planned under its Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) as the number of active cases has surpassed 1,300 and the test positivity rate has been over 0.5% for two days. As on Monday, 266 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospitals.
The positivity rate breached one of the thresholds meant to activate stricter curbs such as shutting schools and cinema halls, imposing tighter restrictions on how many people can go to a private office, ride a taxi or take a Metro, and which shops can remain open.
Officials aware of the discussions within the government said these restrictions — part of the first level of curbs classified as Yellow Alert — have not been taken yet due to economic considerations, but they remain on the table. “The government has already imposed night curfew and restrictions on celebrations have been imposed. A balance needs to be maintained between curbs for Covid management and the employment and economic interests of people,” an official said, asking not to be named.
A second official pointed out that most of the Covid-19 beds were unoccupied and the active caseload was 1,300 – below the 1,500 active cases for the Yellow Alert threshold – and the positivity rate was under 1%.
Experts said since night curfew and restrictions on celebrations have been imposed, Delhi does not need drastic curbs at this stage.
Jugal Kishore, head of the department of community medicine at Safdarjung Hospital, said that with a 0.5% positivity rate, it is too early to implement drastic measures like shutting down schools, cinema halls, etc. “The occupancy of Covid beds is currently negligible. The government should monitor the situation and impose Covid appropriate behaviour among general public strictly which is necessary to check the coronavirus including Omicron spread.”
Suneela Garg, a member of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission India Task Force, said since it is not a panic situation yet, no immediate implementation of GRAP is not a cause of worry. “Delhi’s current Covid situation appears to be under control as of now. The government has already imposed a night curfew and banned New Year celebrations to check the spread of coronavirus. Omicron cases are mild and recovery rate is very high, which is why not enforcing GRAP provisions immediately will not lead to long-term harm.”
Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) chairman Brijesh Goyal said the restrictions under Yellow Alert should not be immediately implemented because the cases for the last seven days are below 1,500 and beds occupancy is very low. “Forty Omicron patients have been cured without oxygen, ICU, steroids, and remdesivir and only five patients have shown minor symptoms. It seems that the situation has not worsened yet,” Goyal said.
The CTI appealed to different trade associations to strictly follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.
Delhi Gym Association vice president Chirag Sethi said they have approached Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Kejriwal. “The gyms should not be closed under GRAP on the basis of the current Covid positivity rate situation because the industry has already suffered a lot during the past few months. DDMA must also consider the total number of cases and the occupancy of oxygen beds in Delhi before imposing further curbs,” Sethi said.