New Delhi: On Wednesday, April 27, Delhi reported 1,204 new cases of COVID-19, or 41% of the total number of new cases reported in India in 24 hours. Delhi’s R value which indicates the spread of infection has been recorded at 1.68 implying that each infected person can transmit the infection to 1.68 (almost 2) other people and they can create the string again. It has been more than a week since Delhi started reporting more than 1,000 new cases a day and it is worrying, sparking fears of the fourth wave of COVID-19 in the country. Speaking about the increase in numbers, Dr. Naresh Trehan, President and CEO of Medanta, said:
In fact, we don’t see any of this diminishing and the only thing to do is sit down and resume some of the COVID-appropriate behaviors we had before. Mask up, especially if you go out into a crowded space; schools must very strictly enforce masking and distancing. Kids can get talkative and drawn to look at each other and then they take off their masks and that’s where a lot of cases come from. Wear a mask, practice social distancing, and all eligible population should take the booster dose.
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Dr Trehan said a precautionary dose of the COVID-19 vaccine protects against infection and is important, especially when some people are infected three times. Repeat infections are detrimental to anyone’s health, he said.
The spike in cases is also alarming as earlier this month schools in Delhi-NCR reopened after nearly two years. There has been a huge setback in education in India. According to experts, the Omicron variant is milder and children usually do not get severe disease, but they can carry the infection. Should schools return to online mode? Dr NN Mathur of Lady Hardinge Medical College said:
The disease is less severe in children and this is something we have seen and established as well. But the challenge is to force a child to wear a mask all the time at school. For now, things are not so bad and we can continue school for a while, but we have to monitor it on a daily basis.
Earlier this month, Delhi eased the face mask mandate by waiving the fine, but after a recent spike in cases in the nation’s capital, the mask mandate was brought back with a fine of Rs. 500 on not wearing masks. Will the situation improve with this? Dr. Trehan said,
People need to realize that SARS-CoV-2 is spreading and that’s how a wave starts unless we react to it right away. There is no room for complacency. Second, testing isn’t as intense as it used to be. We need to test more, track down cases and get hotspots out of circulation.
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The slight increase in cases cannot yet be called a new wave, but according to Dr Trehan, we don’t know what will happen next because another variant lurks in the background.
Omicron is sweet, it’s true; there are fewer hospitalizations and fewer deaths, but anyone who gets the infection still suffers. In India, it becomes even more important because day laborers, if they are put out of action for 10 to 14 days, also suffer economically. Considering India’s population, even a small percentage of the population that gets sick is a very large number numerically and that creates a lot of economic distress at the lower level and we should be responsible for that, he said.
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NDTV – Dettol have been working for a clean and healthy India since 2014 through The Banega Swachh India initiative, led by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the interdependence of humans and the environment, and of humans on each other, with an emphasis on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It emphasizes the need to care for and consider the health of everyone in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous peoples, various Indian tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically distant populations, gender and sexual minorities. With the current Covid-19 pandemicthe need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed because handwashing is one of the ways to prevent coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same with emphasizing the importance of nutrition and health care for women and children, tackling malnutritionmental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health and gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign realized the need to also take care of the health of the ecosystem. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which not only overexploits available resources, but also generates immense pollution due to the use and extraction of these resources. The imbalance has also resulted in an immense loss of biodiversity which has caused one of the greatest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity”. The campaign will continue to cover issues such as air pollution, Waste Management, plastic ban, manual scan and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also advance the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign believes that only a clean Swachh or India where toilet are used and without open defecation (ODF) status obtained under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a healthy Swasth or India.
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