Active Covid-19 cases decline across Delhi districts

Northeast Delhi has 158 active cases -- the lowest among all districts. At 2,616, northwest Delhi district has the highest share of total active cases (12,189) as of December 22, showed the weekly report which is submitted to offices of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and lieutenant governor Anil Baijal.

As new Covid-19 cases are declining in the national capital for around three weeks now, seven out of eleven districts recorded less than 1,000 active cases as of December 22, shows the latest district-wise summary prepared by the revenue department.

A health worker takes a nasal swab of a person for a Covid-19 test at a hospital in New Delhi, India. (AP)

Northeast Delhi has 158 active cases -- the lowest among all districts. At 2,616, northwest Delhi district has the highest share of total active cases (12,189) as of December 22, showed the weekly report which is submitted to offices of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and lieutenant governor Anil Baijal.

The other six districts with less than 1,000 active cases as on December 22 are central Delhi (592), New Delhi (731), Shahdara (359), south Delhi (891), southeast (887) and southwest (910), according to the report seen by HT.

To put this in perspective, on November 15, when Delhi was peaking in its third – and worst – phase of spike in Covid-19 cases, only one out of 11 revenue districts had less than 1,000 active cases, showed government data.

Delhi, as on November 15, had 43,774 active cases – of which lowest was recorded in the northeast Delhi district (918) and highest in southwest district (6,391), the data showed. Southwest district was followed by south Delhi with 5,815 active cases.

Last week, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that Delhi seems to have overcome the third wave of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Delhi’s revenue minister Kailash Gahlot said, “We are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to efforts being done to arrest the spread of the coronavirus disease. District teams have been entrusted with assessment of transmission risk and creating micro containment zones wherever necessary. Contact tracing was scaled up. The government also focused on home isolation management and patient care quality in hospitals. The efforts have shown results. However, people must continue following precautions.”

Dr Lalit Kant, former head of the epidemiology and communicable diseases department in the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said the numbers are encouraging. “Active cases have declined despite the government increasing the number of tests, especially RT-PCR tests, which are considered to be more accurate. The government should keep up with its currently applicable strategies on testing, tracing and isolation. And people should not let their guards down.”