Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELI, Dec 30: As the world is facing a record Coronavirus cases on the eve of the New Year leading to the World Health Organisation (WHO) warning of a Covid “tsunami” threatening to overwhelm healthcare systems, the Indian government on Thursday expressed concern over the sudden rise in the Covid cases in 14 cities in the country.
Mumbai, Delhi, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala have particularly become the areas of concern where the people have been advised to strictly adhere to Covid protocols to prevent the situation from adopting a threatening posture.
The Centre on Thursday wrote to eight states urging them to take immediate measures to check the surge. Cases of the highly infectious Omicron are also increasing rapidly in and around the big cities. “Take steps now to avoid increased mortality,” was the Centre’s advice, sources said. The idea of taking Delhi’s Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) model across the country is also being considered, top sources said.
In the evening, the government’s Covid Task Force chief VK Paul said the Centre has written to eight states including Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala and Telangana. Fourteen districts in the country has showed a massive positivity rate – between 5 and 10 per cent — he said.
Omicron, he added, is making rapid headway in the country. So far there have been 961 cases of the highly infectious variant across 22 states. The worst affected states are Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Kerala and Telangana.
While Delhi and Mumbai have shown the maximum spike, other cities, including Gurgaon, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad are not far behind.
Over a 24-hour period, Mumbai logged 2,510 cases of Covid on Wednesday, an 82% jump. In a similar massive spike, Delhi reported 923 cases of coronavirus on Wednesday — an 86 per cent jump from Tuesday. As of now, Delhi and Maharashtra are also the two states most affected by Omicron, among the 19 states where the variant has made an appearance. But Omicron cases are also increasing rapidly in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, sources said.
Between December 15 and 21, Haryana’s Gurugram, located near Delhi, recorded 194 Covid cases. The number went up to 738 in the December 22 to 28 week. In Chennai, the numbers have gone up from 1,039 to 1,720 in the same period. In Kolkata, the figures are 1,494 and 2,636. In Bengaluru, the Covid cases have spiked from 1,445 to 1,902.
Earlier this week, Delhi imposed a series of restrictions under the Yellow Alert — part of the city’s four-stage GRAP. The plan was approved by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority in July as a preparatory measure for a possible third wave. Under it, most of the activities resumed in phases as the second wave stopped. Malls, restaurants, shops, cinema halls spas and gyms were shut. So were schools and colleges. Private offices are being allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity from 9 am to 5 pm. Shops and malls selling non-essential goods and services are allowed to stay open under the odd-even rule. Restaurants and bars are operating at 50 per cent capacity and timings have been curtailed.
The Centre said the increase of Covid-19 cases in India could be part of the global rise pushed by Omicron as India in the last 24 hours reported 13,154 new Covid cases and the Omicron tally of the country stands at 961. There is an uptick which has been witnessed in the last few days as India’s daily cases jumped from around 6,000 on Tuesday to around 9,000 Wednesday to over 13,000 on Thursday, Niti Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul said.
Stating that India reported over 10,000 daily Covid cases after 33 days, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said there was a need for heightened vigil among the people of the country.
Briefing the media, Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Luv Aggarwal also said on an average, India reported more than 8,000 cases per day last week. Overall case positivity rate stands at 0.92%, he said, adding that weekly positivity rate is over 10 per cent in eight districts while it is 5-10% in 14 districts.
“The present R-value in India is 1.22 which means cases are increasing and not shrinking. Deaths are stable in India as of now which is reassuring. It could be part of the global rise in cases pushed by Omicron, we believe. We are updating you on available information. It takes time to identify the variant. We will continue to update you on the specifics of this. Omicron is a highly transmissible variant that perhaps explains the speed of the rise in the cases. The severity issue of the variant is unsettled. Hopefully, it remains mild but can’t be taken for granted,” Dr Paul told a media conference.
The union health ministry had also noted that the world was going through the fourth wave of the pandemic while at that time India’s overall tally was stable. In the last few days, the situation has changed, the ministry noted. There is no need to panic as India has the massive shield of very high coverage of vaccines, Dr Paul said.
As several experts are saying that this surge is the beginning of the third wave in the country, Dr Paul said, “The situation is emerging. Where it will go is in our hands and we should not allow the cases to go up,” Dr Paul said.
This was even as the world was bracing for a subdued New year celebrations as record coronavirus cases fuelled by the Omicron variant forcing the WHO to warn of a Covid “tsunami” which could overwhelm the healthcare system in many parts of the world. Coronavirus, first detected two years ago and declared a global pandemic in March 2020, has killed more than 5.4 million people, triggered economic crises and seen societies ricochet in and out of lockdowns.
The latest variant, Omicron, while tentatively considered to cause milder illness, has pushed infection levels to record levels in recent days in the United States, Britain, France and other European countries, forcing governments to reimpose restrictions. The number of daily new Covid cases worldwide crossed one million for the first time on Thursday, according to media reports, with more than 7.3 million cases recorded in the last seven days.
From Greece to Mexico, from Barcelona to Bali and across swathes of Europe, authorities have cancelled or curtailed public gatherings, either closing or imposed curfews on nightclubs. In France, wearing masks outdoors will be compulsory while walking the streets of Paris from Friday for everyone over the age of 11. Nightclubs have been closed until well into January.
In Spain, public festivities have been cancelled across most regions and in the biggest cities except Madrid, where a stripped-down gathering is scheduled with the crowd limited to 7,000 people compared to 18,000 in 2019 before the pandemic swept Europe.
On Thursday, Britain’s National Health Service announced that it would start opening temporary field hospitals to contain a possible overspill of inpatients in England, where the government stopped short of mandating curbs on New Year festivities. “Given the high level of COVID-19 infections and increasing hospital admissions, the NHS is now on a war footing,” National Medical Director Stephen Powis said.
Indonesia, which has reported more than 4.2 million confirmed cases, warned that foreign travellers may be deported from the resort island of Bali if they are caught violating Covid health rules during New Year. “Get ready to be kicked out,” Bali immigration office head Jamaruli Manihuruk said. Bali has barred carnivals, fireworks and gatherings of more than 50 people over the Christmas and New Year period.
Mexico City has also cancelled its massive New Year’s Eve celebrations as a preventative measure after a rise in Covid cases. In Saudi Arabia, authorities reimposed social distancing measures at the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, after recording the highest number of infections in months.