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India Coronavirus Cases Numbers: Delhi now has more than 70,000 cases, almost 40,000 of which have been detected in the last two weeks. But this situation is unlikely to remain permanent. India Coronavirus (Covid-19) Cases: As expected, Delhi overtook Mumbai on Wednesday to become the city with the highest number of novel Coronavirus cases in the country. Delhi now has more than 70,000 cases, almost 40,000 of which have been detected in the last two weeks. Mumbai has about 800 less.
But this situation is unlikely to remain permanent. The surge in Delhi can be attributed to a marked increase in the number of samples the city has been testing of late, especially after deploying the recently approved rapid antigen tests that give results in just about half an hour. In the last ten days, the number of tests in Delhi has increased from about five to seven thousand per day to close to 20,000 on Wednesday.
Mumbai, on the other hand, has been carrying out very limited tests, between 4,000 and 4,500 every day. But Mumbai too is all set for an increased testing now, having ordered one lakh rapid antigen kits. As these tests start getting deployed, Mumbai’s case numbers are also expected to shoot up. There is already some criticism that Mumbai has been spreading its testing net quite thin, aimed only at primary contacts of infected and those at maximum risk of getting the infection. The actual number of cases in Mumbai could be much larger, but that is not getting detected because the tests are low.
Delhi, in the meanwhile, has also decided to undertake a door-to-door surveillance for early detection of the disease and minimise the spread. Mumbai has been doing this exercise for some time on a lesser scale, and has had some success. Door-to-door surveillance helps in detecting the possible infections early on, and thereby limit the number of people who the virus can be transmitted to. This exercise can possibly halt or slow down the rise of cases in Delhi.
Door-to-door surveillance is now planned to be undertaken in Madhya Pradesh as well from July 1. The exercise is part of a fortnight long campaign to make increased efforts to contain the spread of the virus. The disease has already slowed down considerably in the state. Madhya Pradesh, in fact, is the slowest growing among major states, its growth rate having gone below 2 per cent.
One city that till very recently was being hailed for its efforts to control the spread of the virus is Bengaluru. It had managed to avoid the fate of Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune or Kolkata. However, the situation has changed significantly in the last few days, though it is still better than the other major cities. More than a 1,000 new cases have been detected in the city this month, while about 70 people have died. The local administration is now contemplating a partial lockdown to halt the rise.
A weekend lockdown is being contemplated in Chandigarh as well but it is more to do with people not following simple rules of physical distancing than any major surge in cases. Chandigarh has only 420 confirmed infections, because of which many people have not been following physical distancing rules. Traders and shopkeepers, however, have opposed any move to impose a lockdown on the weekends. Punjab is already following the weekend lockdown model.
Almost 17,000 new cases were detected across the country on Wednesday, taking the total number of infections over 4.7 lakh, of which about 2.6 lakh have recovered. Close to 15,000 people have so far died due to the disease in India.
Arunachal Pradesh, which has 160 cases, recorded its first Coronavirus fatality, with the death of a 48-year person who was also suffering from serious kidney ailment. Two days ago, Goa had recorded its first death, when an 85-year old asthmatic patient, who also had diabetes and pulmonary disorders, died.
