'We Would Like To Know Percentage Of Severe Cases': High Court Inquires About Covid-19 Situation In Delhi

Amid rising cases of Covid-19 and spread of its Omicron variant, the Delhi High Court today inquired about the public health conditions in the national capital.

A Division Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh told the Delhi government that it would like to know the percentage of severe Covid-19 cases in the city. It also enquired about the percentage of Omicron cases.

Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for GNCTD, told the Bench that this time, the situation is very different from what happened during the second wave and there is comparatively less hospitalization.

As per the statistics read out to the Court during the course of hearing, there were 10,986 Covid positive cases in Delhi as on January 3 with positivity rate at 6.46%, whereas during the second wave, there were 17, 332 positive cases by this time into the wave.

Mehra further compared the statistics of second wave and third wave as follows: 1 death this time vs 17 deaths during second wave; 420 occupied Covid beds this time vs 3,226 beds during second wave; 300 oxygen beds occupied this time vs 3,000 beds occupied during second wave; 113 ICU beds occupied this time vs 1,238 beds occupied during second wave.

He added that even the span of home isolation has been reduced to 7 days this time, and there is no need for getting tested as negative.

A fresh report detailing the latest position will be filed in the Court, he said.

The development comes in a batch of PILs concerning the Covid-19 situation in the national capital. The pleas were listed to ascertain the government's strategy for a booster dose of vaccine.

The Bench noted that the Centre has already issued guidelines for administration of 'Precautionary Doses' to certain class of persons. An additional document filed in this regard by the Centre through Standing Counsel Anurag Ahluwalia states,

"For those Health Care Workers (HCWs) & Front Line Workers (FLWs) who have received two doses, another dose of COVID-19 vaccine would be provided from 10th January 2022...All persons aged 60 years and above with comorbidities who have received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, will on Doctor's advice be provided with a precaution dose from 10 January 2022."