Journalism of Courage
With rising cases of Covid with hospitalisation remaining low — akin to the previous omicron-variant driven wave in January — the Delhi government has adopted a wait and watch approach, with hospitals already prepared to increase beds for the viral infection on short notice. The focus, however, is on increasing the number of tests in order to track the spread of the infection in the capital.
To increase testing, the government has again deployed testing teams in markets and transit points such as railway stations and ISBTs. Directions have also been issued to all the Delhi government hospitals and dispensaries to mandatorily test everyone coming in with flu-like symptoms.
“The number of tests has already started going up and it will increase further in the coming days. With hospitalisations remaining low, most people do not want to get tested. However, we have issued directions to all our health facilities to mandatorily test all those coming in with ILI (influenza-like illness) just to keep a track of what is going on,” said a senior official from Delhi’s health department.
After the surge in January, with Covid cases dipping to a record low, the number of tests had also dipped. From as high as 82,330 tests conducted on an average daily, in mid-January, when the highest number of cases was detected, the number of tests went down to a low 11,751 tests on average over the last seven days. The Centre also emphasised the need for testing and surveillance to track the virus days ago as Delhi and its neighbouring states started seeing an increase in cases.
The government has also reiterated that anyone testing negative on a rapid antigen test should mandatorily be tested using the more accurate RT-PCR tests. The rapid antigen tests, although fast, miss several cases where viral load is low.
To keep track of evolving variants, the government also issued directions earlier this month to mandatorily conduct genome sequencing of all positive samples where the CT value is less than or equal to 25. (CT value is the number of amplification cycles the sample undergoes before the virus is detected. Samples with CT value over 25 cannot be sequenced well). This was previously being done between the second and the third wave to better track mutations in the virus, but was stopped when cases began to rise in December-end and January.
As for the preparedness of hospitals for treating Covid patients in case there is a surge, most said they already have a plan in place and wards can quickly be converted. The government has not issued any directions to increase bed strength so far. There are some beds still earmarked for Covid treatment at all government hospitals and 10% beds at private ones.
“We now already have separate wards, OTs, delivery rooms and dialysis units demarcated for Covid. For now, there are 250 beds earmarked for Covid patients with the rest of the services running normally. In case, there is an increase in cases, we can quickly convert these to Covid units. As of now, the number of admissions remains very low,” said a senior official from Lok Nayak hospital.
An official from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences said the same, “There were only two admissions in the last week. But in case there is an increase, we already have a plan in place.”
