Delhi Covid-19 spurt may lead to spike in other NCR cities

As Delhi is in the throes of a third wave of Covid- 19 with cases rising in the last few days, health officials in the cities falling under the National Capital Region (NCR) are on alert as they fear this may result in the increase in corona cases there also because a large number of people are travelling to the national capital daily in the ongoing festive season.

Noida, Bulandshahr, Hapur, Meerut, Baghpat and Ghaziabad districts come under the NCR.

Divisional surveillance officer Ashok Taliyan said the majority of these people were not following preventive measures of social distancing and they did not even wear masks.

“Their casual behaviour makes them more vulnerable and also poses a threat for others who come in their contact,” he added. As per Dr Taliyan, the positivity rate in Meerut was around 7 per cent in September.

It decreased to 3.5 per cent in October and on November 1, it further reduced to 2.3 per cent. But on November 11, it again rose to 4.4 per cent.

Taking stock of the situation in Delhi, Meerut district magistrate K Balaji interacted with groups of traders, Industrialists, welfare organisations etc to sensitise them about the need of adhering to Covid prevention protocols.

Dr Taliyan said they were doing their best to convince people to follow Covid curb guidelines.

As of now, Meerut district has 1435 active Covid cases while 831 patients are under home isolation.

So far, 328 people have succumbed to Sars-CoV-2 infection in the district. As many as 4,38,133 samples have been tested here till date out of which 14,447 were found positive.