Experts, residents agree: Relaxations proving costly in fight against pandemic in Delhi

Even as the Delhi high court cautioned on Thursday that the national capital could soon become the country’s “corona capital”, resident welfare associations (RWAs) and experts are urging the Delhi government to announce measures such as graded restrictions in public places, and roll back several steps taken to ease restrictions on gatherings at a time when the city can ill afford them.

Even as the Delhi high court cautioned on Thursday that the national capital could soon become the country’s “corona capital”, resident welfare associations (RWAs) and experts are urging the Delhi government to announce measures such as graded restrictions in public places, and roll back several steps taken to ease restrictions on gatherings at a time when the city can ill afford them.

Passengers board a bus at Maharana Pratap ISBT Kashmiri Gate, after Delhi government on Monday announced resumption of inter-state bus services by allowing the three ISBTs to operate at 50 per cent of their pre-Covid capacity, in New Delhi, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (PTI photo)

On Thursday, the number of daily Covid-19 cases remained high at 6,715 cases, taking the city’s tally to 416,653. What was more worrying was that this was at the back of relatively low tests (52,294) given the recent trend, pushing the positivity rate for the day to an alarming 12.84%.

In recent weeks, Delhi has eased restrictions on weddings, public gatherings, interstate buses and cinema halls. Experts said this could be counterproductive given where Delhi stands in the Covid-19 fight -- bang in the middle of the third wave with the seven-day average of cases rising to 5843, higher than the peak of 4,174 it had hit in the second wave on September 17.

“Epidemiologically, no expert would recommend such relaxations at this point of time. But, it is mostly political and economical in context,” said Dr Lalit Kant, former head of epidemiology and infectious disease at ICMR.

“What the government should do now is to at least substantially reduce the time of interaction of people. This means timings of malls, markets, restaurants, pubs should be regulated and reduced. Cap on the number of passengers in buses and guests at weddings should be reduced. Besides, the analysis of the spike in Covid-19 cases has to be very focused because that is what will help the government do targeted testing. In markets, covid-19 testing camps should be massively expanded. At present, these camps are visibly inadequate compared to the inflow of visitors and are mostly located in obscure locations. If buses are opened up to more passengers, then at least 70-80% arriving passengers should be tested,” said Kant.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, who convened a review meeting on Thursday in view of the increasing cases, said that the government will intensify “targeted tests” by focusing on high-risk individuals, which includes contacts of people diagnosed covid-19 positive, and by scaling up tests through mobile vans deployed in markets and crowded public places.

Dr T Jacob John, a retired professor of clinical virology at Christian Medical College, Vellore, said the ideal situation would be to “reduce interaction of people” by putting in some curbs. He said the rising number of cases also implies that Delhi is not testing enough.

Meanwhile, Dr Shobha Broor, former head of the department of microbiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), said that schools must be kept shut (which they are), and non-essential services such as cinema halls and restaurants (which have been reopened), should also be closed or heavily restricted for at least a few weeks.

The views of the experts were echoed by RWAs.

Mukesh Sinha of the Dwarka residents’ association said the focus should be on restrictions, rather than opening up, starting with restrictions and regulations in the city’s markets.

“Today, images from Chandni Chowk were going viral on social media. The market was bustling with people owing to the festive season. Even in local markets people are seen wearing masks, but no social distancing is being practised. Also, there is hardly any presence of enforcement officials,” he said.

A number of concerned RWAs have written to the chief minister and lieutenant governor (LG) Anil Baijal requesting for a review of the Covid-related decisions and stricter enforcement of norms. Baijal is the chairperson of the Delhi disaster management authority (DDMA).

“We suggest a graded approach. The free flow and opening of all economic activity with no checks and balances sends a wrong signal to the populace, making them believe that things are under control, thus becoming careless. The Western world is again going into a lockdown. India cannot afford another economic shutdown. Therefore, necessary restrictions are needed to contain Covid,” read the letter sent by Save Our City campaign -- an association of civil society members, RWAs and experts - on Monday

Delhi government spokespersons and the LG’s office did not respond to queries seeking comments.

Over the last week, state heath minister Satyendar Jain has repeatedly rejected the idea of bringing back restrictions.

“The virus is at the community transmission stage. When a city is in a community transmission stage, it is impossible to wipe out the spread of infection with any form of lockdown. It will probably take 2-3 months more for the Covid-19 vaccine to arrive here. So, till then the mask is the only vaccine and the Delhi government is conducting an intensive awareness campaign. Enforcement agencies have also been asked to intensify the crackdown against violators of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour,” Jain said last week.

Experts are not sure these measures will be enough.