Delhi has been witnessing a tremendous surge in Covid cases.
Delhi witnessed yet another worrying surge in Covid cases - believed to be driven by the new Omicron variant - with 4,099 infections recorded in the last 24 hours. At least 10,000 fresh Covid cases have been logged in the last three days in the city.
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The new variant - believed to be highly infectious - has been found in a majority of recent samples that have been tested, the Arvind Kejriwal government has said.
"As per genome sequencing reports of December 30-31 from three labs - at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Lok Nayak Hospital and National Centre for Disease Control - 81 per cent samples were infected with Omicron. Most of the cases are of Omicron," Health Minister Satyender Jain said today.
Delhi's current positivity rate - the number of people testing positive for every 100 tests - stands at 6.46 per cent. This is the highest the city has recorded since May. Today's daily surge is also the highest since May 18.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday urged people to "not panic", citing low hospitalisations. "I just want to tell you that all new cases are with mild symptoms, asymptomatic, so there is no need to panic," he said in a televised address.
Every day, the city is recording a huge surge in Covid cases - on Sunday, 3,194 fresh cases were logged and 2,716 cases were recorded a day before.
Across Delhi Covid hospitals, 420 patients are admitted and 66 of them are suspect cases. In the last 24 hours, 342 patients have been hospitalised. Twelve international passengers have also tested positive since yesterday. 120 patients as of now need oxygen support, according to latest info.
India has registered 1,700 Omicron cases so far. Most are from Maharashtra (510).
In Delhi, the Health Minister had earlier blamed international flights for the surge in cases.
Mumbai is another major city where the surge has been alarming. On Sunday, the city recorded 8,063 of Maharashtra's 11,877 new Covid infections. Fresh curbs have been brought back across the county to check the spread of the cases.
Despite the spike and curbs, huge crowds were seen at popular places in Delhi on New Year's Day. A large number of people are also visiting tourist destinations across the country.
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