Delhi coronavirus situation worrisome: Indian health minister

With a total of 25,000 cases and death toll of 650, the current coronavirus situation in India's national capital Delhi is "worrisome," Indian Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said.

As all districts of Delhi are affected by Covid-19, Vardhan pointed "the rising cases, high positivity rates and low testing levels in many districts are worrisome".

"As the number of cases and fatality rises in Delhi, it needs to ramp up testing coupled with aggressive surveillance contact tracing and stringent containment and perimeter control activities", he said during a virtual interaction with Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Delhi's Health Minister Satyendra Jain yesterday, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

While the average testing per million population in Delhi was 2018, some districts such as north east (517 tests/million population) and South east (506 tests/million population) were far below, it was pointed out.

The coronavirus positivity rate in Delhi last week was 25.7% but several districts reported figures above 38%, Varudhan said.

The high rate of infection among health care workers in Delhi was also a serious issue, indicating poor infection prevention control practices in health care, the health minister pointed out.

Vardhan underscored the immediate need and importance of scaling up of testing with health infrastructure enhancements along with better clinical management of the Covid-19 cases for effective case management and reduction of fatality rate.

The District Magistrates and officials of municipal corporations of Delhi said stigma associated with Covid-19 stopped people from reporting symptoms or cases and that people seem to be getting complacent with following the norms regarding physical distancing, which was a major factor contributing to the new surge in cases.