Union home secretary reviews Covid situation in Delhi-NCR

Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla on Thursday chaired a meeting to review the spike in Covid-19 cases in the national capital region, and asked the local authorities to ramp up testing

Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla on Thursday chaired a meeting to review the spike in Covid-19 cases in the national capital region, and asked the local authorities to ramp up testing, officials aware of the matter said.

A health worker collects a swab sample for Covid-19 test at Anand Vihar on Thursday. Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla reviewed the situation in Delhi-NCR on Thursday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT Photo)

Several states including Delhi are recording a sharp spike in the number of daily Covid infections, particularly due to the new, highly transmissible Omicron variant of the Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

States in NCR have imposed a series of restrictions on social gatherings and movement of people to break the transmission chain. A night curfew between 10pm and 5am, and an additional weekend curfew is in force in Delhi. In Gurugram, only fully vaccinated people are being allowed in public spaces such as grain markets, bus stand and railway stations, parks, religious places, bars, restaurants and hotels. Malls and markets are allowed to open only til 5pm.

Among those who attended the meeting on Thursday include chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana or their representatives along with senior police and health officials of the NCR states. Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan and NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul were also present.

Officials said Bhalla asked the authorities in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad to monitor the availability of hospital beds, oxygen and other facilities in case there is a spike in hospitalisations and make arrangements in respective areas to avoid any crowding.

He also touched upon enforcing rules pertaining to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour and conducting tests.

A total of 90,928 fresh Covid-19 cases and 325 deaths were registered across the country in the last 24 hours. The active caseload also went up to 285,401 during the same period, according to the Union health ministry data. The total number of Omicron cases in the country has reached 2,630. Also, the first Omicron-related death in the country was recorded on Wednesday in Rajasthan’s Udaipur.

On December 27, Bhalla issued an advisory asking states and union territories to not let their guard down.

The home secretary asked the states and UTs to refer to his earlier order, issued on December 21, which focuses on the five-fold strategy of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination and Adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour to avoid any surge in Covid-19 cases.