South, Central adding most cases
DISTRICTS SUCH AS NORTH-EAST, EAST AND SHAHDARA CONTINUE TO REPORT LOWER OR DECLINING CASES, ACCORDING TO AN ANALYSIS OF THE DISTRICT-WISE DISTRIBUTION OF CASES IN DELHI
NEW DELHI: Four districts -New Delhi, South East, South and South West -- reported nearly 70% of the fresh Covid-19 cases in Delhi in the two weeks ending December 19, according to a Delhi government analysis of district-wise distribution of cases.
According to the data, the four districts accounted for 598 of the 910 cases reported in the last two weeks. Experts said the higher case load in these districts could be due to poorer prior exposure to the virus (as compared with the other districts) during the last two waves and of people from these areas possibly taking more international and interstate trips.
Districts such as North-east, East and Shahdara continue to report lower or declining cases, according to the analysis.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has called a high-level meeting on Thursday morning to review the city’s preparedness to tackle any outbreak of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of Sars-Cov-2, and is likely to discuss issues related to hospital beds, oxygen availability, medicine stocks and home isolation facilities.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Wednesday directed police and district authorities to carry out raids to ensure restrictions on public gatherings, including on celebrations for Christmas and the New Year.
Since December 1, active Covid cases in the Capital have more than doubled to 624. Delhi has reported 57 Omicron cases so far.
The prevailing Covid situation of all districts was reviewed in a health department meeting on Tuesday where senior officials from the health department asked the districts to be ready to implement the Covid management plan in place during the fourth wave. The districts have also been asked to closely monitor the situation and increase testing, tracing and vaccination coverage.
A study of the district-wise daily Covid case distribution from December 6 to 19, accessed by HT, shows that Covid caseloads increased by 93% in south-east district (from 43 to 83), 84.8% (33 to 61) in south-west, 81.7% (60 to 109) in south district and by 15.5% (91 to 112) in New Delhi. At 112, New Delhi has the most active cases (as of December 19) among all districts.
In the same period, cases decreased in districts like East, Shahdara and North-east, which have higher population densities and more slums as well as unauthorised colonies.
The number of new cases fell 65.7% -- from 35 to 12 -- in the East district during the two weeks. New cases also fell 50% each in North-east (down from 4 to 2) and Shahdara (20 to 10) districts.
Some other districts have also reported an increase in cases but they have far less number of active cases as compared to the four districts seen as “areas of concern”.
Cases increased from 21 to 34 in North district (61.9% rise); from 22 to 33 in Northwest (50% hike); and from 28 to 41 in West district (46.4% increase). The total number of cases across all the districts increased 32.7% in the twoweek period.
In the second wave too, these districts were reporting more Covid cases and a higher number of containment zones as compared to the three with lower case trajectories at present.
Dr Sanjay Rai, professor, community medicine department at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, said the districts reporting fewer Covid cases currently, reported a high infection rate during the first wave.
“The first containment zone in Delhi was in Shahdara, followed by the East district. These are densely populated areas where infection spread quickly and people developed antibodies against coronavirus. Evidence has emerged that people who recover from mild Covid-19 develop antibodies which may last a lifetime,” Dr Rai told HT.
Dr Rai added that a large number of people were infected with coronavirus and recovered without even realising that they got Covid: “It ultimately worked as a shield for them against Covid-19. It may be the reason behind these districts reporting lower cases even in the second wave.”
Dr Suneela Garg, directorprofessor of community medicine at Maulana Azad Medical College, said one of the reasons behind some districts reporting higher cases is the higher flow of international passengers to these districts.
“Lack of proper masking and violations of Covid appropriate behaviour could also to blame,” she said.
Meanwhile, officials said the districts reporting higher Covid cases have been put on alert.
“One of the reasons behind New Delhi having higher cases is lack of clarity about the district boundaries in public. People living in Karol Bagh also write New Delhi as an address for tests. We have found several cases where positive persons belonging to neighbouring districts giving New Delhi as an address,” a district official, who did not want to be identified, said.
Another official, who asked not to be named, said similar confusion existed in South and South-east districts. “People living in Kalkaji give South district as their address but Kalkaji actually comes under South-east,” the official said.
A health department official said that the districts have been asked to increase random testing at crowded areas like markets.