COVID-19: Arvind Kejriwal to hold review meeting as Delhi witnesses sharp rise in cases

After recording highest single-day spike for two consecutive days, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal scheduled a high-level review meeting on Tuesday to take stock of the COVID-19 situation in the national capital. The meeting is scheduled to be held at noon at the Delhi secretariat. On Sunday, the national capital recorded a rise in cases with 290 infections, while the tally of new cases rose to 331 on Monday, with one death.

List of expected discussions to take place in Arvind Kejriwal's COVID-19 review meeting:

• According to ANI report, Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) is expected to be the top agenda of the meeting. 
• A declaration of Yellow Alert with its host of restrictions under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) is likely to come into effect. 

Night curfew restriction returns in Delhi

Amid a surge in COVID-19 and Omicron cases in the national capital, the Delhi government has imposed a night curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. The night curfew kickstarted under the four-stage Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) after the positivity rate surpassed 0.5% for two consecutive days. Moreover, the Omicron cases have increased in the national capital with 142 cases, followed by Maharashtra at 141.

Experts predict rise in COVID-19 cases in Delhi

Experts on Monday said that the number of cases will see an increase in the next couple of months due to the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, with the peak likely to be attained in February.

Epidemiologist Giridhar R Babu said, "It is very unlikely that the number of cases has risen due to the festive season because in that case, the impact would have been seen 14 days after Diwali in November and the number of cases would have risen by November-end.

The number is rising due to the Omicron variant, which is highly transmissible. The cases will see a rapid ascent and a rapid descent and the peak is likely to come between mid-January and mid-February."

Dr Jugal Kishore, the head of the community medicine department at the Safdarjung hospital, said that the number of coronavirus cases and the positivity rate are bound to increase, but will not translate into mortality.