COVID-19 situation in Delhi ‘unprecedented’, likely to worsen, says NITI Aayog as cases surge
NITI Aayog said that the situation could worsen in the coming weeks with cases rising 500 per 10 lakh from 361 currently. According to Census 2011, Delhi's population is estimated at 1.67 crore.
FollowNew Delhi: The government's policy think tank, NITI Aayog, has expressed concerns over rising coronavirus cases in Delhi. It has termed as an "unprecedented situation" that has emerged in the national capital which is witnessing a spurt in Covid-19 cases since October 28 when the daily rise breached the 5,000-mark for the first time. On Wednesday, it crossed the 8,000-mark.
However, in a meeting chaired by Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday, Niti Aayog’s Dr VK Paul described the Delhi situation as “unprecedented” and added that “it is likely to become worse”, according to two officials present at the meeting.
NITI Aayog said that the situation could worsen in the coming weeks with cases rising 500 per 10 lakh from 361 currently. According to Census 2011, Delhi's population is estimated at 1.67 crore.
"An unprecedented situation has emerged in Delhi and this likely to become worse in the coming weeks," NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul as saying.
Delhi contributed the most to the country’s fresh coronavirus (Covid-19) cases in the last week. Currently, the national capital has over four lakh cases of Covid-19.
It recorded a single-day spike of 8,500 cases and overall 51,000 cases last week. But Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain on Monday clarified that there were no plans to reimpose the lockdown. “There will be no reimposition of lockdown in Delhi. I don’t think it will be an effective step now; wearing of masks will be more beneficial,” Jain told news agency ANI. He added that Delhi has crossed the peak of the third wave of infections.
Meanwhile, the National Centre for Disease Control recently warned that Delhi needed to be prepared for about 15,000 fresh cases per day. It noted that winter-related respiratory problems and air pollution will contribute to the rising graph.
In another related development, the city government said that it is working on revising its containment strategy and is likely to survey the high-coronavirus incidence areas.
