Delhi's Covid Positivity Rate Jumps But Doctors Say Nothing to Worry, Hospitalisation Low

Owing to a drop in testing over the festive weekend, the Covid-19 positivity rate in Delhi on Monday stood at 2.7 per cent from below 1 per cent about a week ago. Delhi on Monday reported 137 positive cases of the Covid-19 from 5,079 samples tested over 24 hours.

Experts, however, maintained that there is nothing to be worried about if the infections were not causing a spike in hospitalisation, reported Times of India.

Reacting to a rise in the Covid-19 positivity rate in the city, doctors said cases could be increasing but this should not be a worry if the infections were not causing a spurt in hospitalisations.

“The virus is still present in the environment. Therefore, we may continue to see infections caused by it. That should not be a cause of concern at all if the rate of hospitalisations due to Covid remains low,” Dr Neeraj Nischal, additional professor, department of medicine at AIIMS, was quoted as saying.

There has been no significant increase in the number of Covid-19 patients at AIIMS over the past week, he said.

As per the last Delhi government health bulletin, only 47 (0.48%) Covid beds out of a total of 9,745 were occupied. A doctor at a hospital also said that some of the patients were admitted for other health issues but during treatment they tested positive for Covid-19.

As per the latest figures, Delhi currently has 601 active cases of Covid-19, of which 447 are in home isolation.

A doctor at a private hospital said that he has seen two to three cases of Covid-19 in the past week, however, most of them had mild symptoms. He added that previous exposure to infection and vaccination were helping prevent serious illness.

“In Delhi, a majority of adults are fully vaccinated. A significant number of children have also received both doses of the vaccine available against Covid-19. But the uptake of the precautionary dose, also referred to as booster dose, remains lower than expected,” TOI quoted Dr Arun Gupta, president of the Delhi Medical Council, as saying.

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