In Delhi’s new Covid-19 figures, continuing concern and a silver lining

The city still has 90 active containment zones, more or less the figure a few days earlier. Of these, 50 are in the red and have reported cases over the last fortnight.

Eleven Covid-19 containment zones have turned green in the national capital Delhi over the last four days, a sign that the steps taken by authorities to curtail the spread of the disease in the coronavirus hotspots were effective in many places, a senior city government official told Hindustan Times.

Delhi has added over 400 Covid-19 patients over the past 24 hours to push the national capital’s Covid-19 count closer to the 15,000-mark. (Ajay Aggarwal /HT PHOTO)

The locations that have emerged out of the containment zones include Nawabganj area in the central district, home to nearly 6,500 people. Besides, it also includes south district’s Sangam Vihar and Deoli Extension in Saket, Khirki extension and Chirag Delhi’s Jain Mohalla and the police colony in north district’s Model Town police colony.

The exclusion of these containment zones, however, has not reduced their total number because Covid-19 cases continue to be reported from new locations apart from some of the hotspots.

The city still has 90 active containment zones, more or less the figure a few days earlier. Of these, 50 are in the red and have reported cases over the last fortnight.

“But this also implies that approximately a dozen containment zones that were in the red have been moved to the orange category did not report a single case over the last fortnight and were classified as orange,” a second government official said.

Also, 12 more people died of the disease. In all, the city has lost 288 lives due to the coronavirus cases.

The city’s Covid-19 count stands at 14,465.

Nearly 48% of them have already recovered. 183 more were reported to have been cured in the last 24 hours.

Of the remaining 7,223, only about 2,092 are being treated at government and private hospitals. The rest are mild cases and told to stay home in isolation.

But there are 185 patients who have had to be admitted to the intensive care unit for treatment, another 27 are on ventilators.

Officials suggest that the fluctuations in the daily reported cases were on expected lines.

That the city needs to get used to the idea of the virus around is a point that has been repeatedly made by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who underscored that he would get worried only if there is a sharp spike in the number of deaths.

Or a spike in the number of patients requiring hospitalisation or intensive care. That could lead to a collapse of the health infrastructure system.

“But it is not so… Most cases that are surfacing these days are those of patients with either mild or no symptoms, which are not required to be admitted in hospital,” Kejriwal, who has been working closely with Lt Governor Anil Baijal, said.