Daily Covid-19 infections at 1,434; containment zones increased

The daily spike of Covid-19 cases continued its exponential rise on Thursday, with 1,434 new cases being reported from across the district, the third time more than 1,000 cases have been reported in the last four days

The daily spike of Covid-19 cases continued its exponential rise on Thursday, with 1,434 new cases being reported from across the district, the third time more than 1,000 cases have been reported in the last four days. One person died due to the Covid-19 infection, taking the total number of deaths to 372 while the weekly positivity rate remained at 10%, according to the health department data.

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The district on Thursday increased the number of micro-containment zones from 61 to 119 to curb the spread of infections. “In view of the rising cases, we had recommended an increase in the number of containment zones to the district administration, which accepted it. The objective is to isolate the localised spread. We are also testing over 10,000 people every day. We have also decided to conduct antigen testing on a large scale for mass screening,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

Yadav said that he was accompanied by the deputy commissioner during a visit to the Medeor Hospital and SGT Medical Hospital, where steps to increase the number of ICU and ventilator beds were discussed with both hospitals.

To provide isolation facilities to Covid-19 patients, the district administration also issued directions for setting up 17 isolation centres in the city. Twelve of these centres would be paid facilities while five will be government-paid ones. For the paid facilities, the authorities fixed the rate between ₹1,200 and ₹3,500 per day, for which patients will be given three meals a day.

Due to concerns over the sharp spike in Covid-19 cases over the last few days, the district and sessions judge Surya Pratap Singh late Thursday suspended the physical hearing of cases in district courts till April 30. The state government has also cancelled board exams for class 10 students and deferred the exams for class 12 students due to the sharp spike.

According to the health department data, the district recorded 1,084 cases on Sunday, 1,132 cases on Monday, 998 cases on Tuesday and 1,151 cases on Wednesday. Health officials said that the total number of cases reached 74,856, of which 7,741 are active cases. As many as 10,079 samples were collected on Thursday for testing.

On Thursday, 722 patients recovered from the infection, taking the recovery rate to 89%. Officials said that 58 Covid-positive persons were also lodged in government-run facilities for isolating themselves.

Officials said that 2,102 people received the vaccines on Thursday across 97 vaccination sites in the city.

Yadav said that the number of government session sites was fewer as it was a regular inoculation day for the department. Overall 295,000 people of the 428,000 eligible beneficiaries have been vaccinated in the district.

The district administration, in a related development, also curtailed the number of people allowed at functions and social gatherings, following an announcement by the chief minister earlier in the day.