Delhi must not get complacent

The rise in positivity rate is a warning. Follow protocols

From being among the most-affected regions in the country to battling Covid-19 with relative success, Delhi’s journey has gone through many ebbs and flows. Enhanced testing, strict enforcement of restrictions in containment zones, ramping up health infrastructure, prioritising plasma therapy, home isolation, calibrated opening up of activities involving large crowds in closed spaces, and following social distancing protocols to prevent the disease have all helped in bringing down the number of cases and deaths in Delhi.

But Covid-19 is still here — and science is still discovering unknown facets of it. It is in that backdrop that recent figures in Delhi present a warning. As this newspaper reported on Tuesday, the city’s positivity rate (the number of people who test positive out of 100) has increased to 7.4% last week, after dropping to 5.7% in the week ending July 30. On Sunday, the positivity rate was 8.9% — but the weekly average is a better indicator of the spread of the disease. Testing too has reduced in Delhi, with the seven-day average of tests at 17,985, a drop from over 20,000 tests conducted in the week ending July 10. A majority of these tests are antigen tests, which are less accurate than RT-PCR tests.

To be sure, the sero survey has indicated that close to 30% of Delhi’s residents may already have the disease, hinting that the Capital may be inching towards herd immunity, and current positivity rates are less than 10%, as Delhi’s health minister Satyendra Jain emphasised. But it is important for both the government and Delhi’s citizens not to become complacent. Test, trace, isolate, treat, and follow social distancing.