Delhi asks for booster shots, to sequence all +ve samples

The Delhi government has decided to ramp up home isolation arrangements as patients infected with the Covid-19 virus’s Omicron variant are likely to have mild symptoms, CM Arvind Kejriwal said.

The Delhi government on Monday urged the Centre to allow booster doses of the Covid-19 vaccine starting with health care workers, and said the state will send all positive Covid-19 samples for genome sequencing with immediate effect in order to track the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya reviews RT-PCR testing facilities at the airport in New Delhi recently. (ANI)

The government has also decided to ramp up home isolation arrangements as patients infected with the Covid-19 virus’s Omicron variant are likely to have mild symptoms, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said, while appealing to people not to panic since the city has enough hospital beds and oxygen supply to tackle the situation even if there is a spike in cases.

He said that the decisions were taken at a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Monday. DDMA is chaired by Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal, and Kejriwal is its vice-chairman.

The city recorded one Covid-19 death according to Sunday’s bulletin, the first fatality in 11 days, and only the third so far this month.

“At the DDMA meeting, we discussed the Omicron variant at length with experts. They say that Omicron spreads very fast, but its symptoms are very mild. It also requires less hospitalisation and chances of death are very low,” Kejriwal said. “Keeping that in mind, the DDMA has decided that the focus this time will be on home isolation because the maximum number of people will be treated at home if there is another wave.”

Data accessed by HT showed that in December, Delhi sent a total of 320 samples to NCDC, ILBS and Lok Nayak Hospital for genome sequencing, of which 11% of the samples came positive for the Omicron variant, 49% were the Delta variant and 40% were others.

On Monday, Delhi recorded 91 fresh Covid-19 cases while the positivity rate in the city touched 0.2% first time since June.

On the decision to conduct genome sequencing on all positive samples, Kejriwal said, “All these days, Covid-19 cases were really low. But yesterday, the number breached 100. To understand which strain these cases are, and to know how many of the new cases are Omicron variant and how many are the Delta or Alpha variants, DDMA has decided to conduct 100% genome sequencing on all samples that come positive.”

Until now, positive samples of only those who arrived in Delhi from at-risk countries, and those coming from other countries but testing positive during random tests at the airport, were being sent for genome sequencing. Typically, states send a proportion of the positive samples to INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium) for genome sequencing. Officials in the Delhi health department said that the government has been sending all positive samples for genome sequencing to the labs mentioned earlier.

The Delhi chief minister will chair a meeting on Thursday to take stock of the management of home isolation in the Capital. The city recorded one Covid-19 death according to Sunday’s bulletin, the first fatality in 11 days, and only the third so far this month. The city recorded seven deaths in the month of November, and four in October.

Kejriwal said the Delhi government has made all arrangements for hospital beds, medicines, and oxygen supplies in case there is another wave.

“About 30,000 Covid-19 beds are ready in Delhi, with 100 beds per ward to be arranged as and when required on a two-week notice taking the total bed capacity of Delhi to over 64,000 beds. Additionally, 6,800 ICUs will also be ready soon. Medicine stocks are currently being added. The Delhi Government has issued a Covid helpline number – 1031, to help Covid patients during any problem. This helpline number works 24x7,” a senior government official said.

The city endured a punishing fourth wave of Covid-19 infections between April and May that left health infrastructure overrun, overwhelmed medical workers, and led to crematoriums running out of space. Over 760,000 people were infected in that period, while over 13,000 died of the infection between April and May alone. Cases in the city begin to peter out towards the middle of May on the back of a lockdown, which the state government imposed from April 19 onwards.

Since then, the Delhi Government is also focusing on increasing manpower for Covid management. For this, it has given special training in Covid management to medical students, nurses and paramedical staff along with specialist doctors. They have been given training in oxygen therapy, Covid management, paediatric ward Covid management and so on.

“In addition, the Delhi government has also roped in 5,000 health assistants who have been given basic training in nursing, paramedics, home care, blood pressure measurement, vaccination etc,” the government said in a statement.

As of Monday, Delhi had about 28,247 Covid-19 beds, including 2,791 ICU beds, of which only 521 were occupied.

Kejriwal also requested people to continue wearing masks, follow social distancing norms, and other safety measures.

He said Delhi has so far has administered the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine on 99% people, while 70% people have received two doses. “I request the Centre to allow booster doses for health care workers, followed by those who have received two doses,” he said.

Dr Lalit Kant, former head of epidemiology and communicable diseases division at the Indian Council of Medical Research, said the Omicron variant can infect even those who are fully vaccinated. “That is why people need to strictly keep wearing masks. Omicron’s rate of replication, 70 times faster than its predecessor. So, even if this variant causes mild infection, it should be taken very seriously because it spreads much faster,” he said.

Last week, the Union health ministry advised people to avoid non-essential travel and keep New Year celebrations low-key. “As the Omicron variant is spreading very fast across Europe and most parts of the world, there is a need to avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings and keep festivities low-key,” ICMR Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava said.

The total cases of the Omicron variant in India increased to 170 on Monday, with five new infections reported from Karnataka, four each from Kerala and Delhi, and one from Gujarat.