As Health Minister says 'cases in Delhi will drop', doctors fear surge if steps not taken

Amid the National Capital witnessing a surge in the number of daily COVID-19 infections even as the daily fresh cases count has witnessed a drop on a national scale, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain on Sunday said that the third wave of Covid-19 cases in the capital has reached its peak and cases will start declining soon. He also opined that the government's aggressive testing is leading to an increase in the number of cases as more cases are detected due to aggressive testing.

"If a person becomes infected then the government is testing his/her entire family, along with the people in his/her contact. That's why more coronavirus cases are emerging," said Jain, adding that the cases of the virus in Delhi will drop soon.

"The number of cases suggests that it is the worst wave so far. But the cases will come down soon," he said as he attributed the surge to the negligence of people.

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'Negligence of people responsible for surge'

ANI report quoted Dr. Manoj Kumar, cardio department of Max Hospital, who said that the surge is alarming and the situation may deteriorate further if strict control measures aren't taken. He also opined that the government needs to impose lockdown once again with night curfew citing people's negligence the reason for the alarming surge in COVID-19 infections. 

"People are getting fed up and are tired of following the COVID-19 norms. People have gone out of the way, the discipline of putting a mask is over. They are roaming on the streets without masks. Also, the trend of washing hands has reduced, so this is the reason why the cases are increasing," Manoj Kumar said.

"Night curfew and lockdown are being re-imposed in other parts of the world. If India intends to prevent the spread of the virus then the government will have to take some strict steps," he added.

The national capital recorded 6,953 fresh coronavirus cases and 79 deaths on Saturday, the highest number of fatalities in over four months, officials said. The cases were detected out of the 57,433 tests conducted the previous day while the positivity rate stood at 12.11 per cent, which is double as compared to the national positivity rate i.e. 6.02 per cent. As on Sunday, the national capital has 40,258 active infections and 6,912 have succumbed to the virus while 3,83,614 have recovered and discharged.

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