Delhi's strategy to face new Covid strain.
On Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced the city's preparedness and promptness to combat the ravages of a new strain in corona virus which originated in the United Kingdom. After suspension of flights on December 22 from and to the UK to check the spread of mutated virus, this seems to be deadlier and 70% more infectious. The passengers who arrived India on or before December 22 from the UK or other European countries are tested and quarantined as a cautionary measure to safeguard other people. The Delhi CM raised his concerns over the inflow of six passengers from the UK who have been diagnosed with this virus. The virus has shrouded the UK in drapes of miseries.
The Aam Aadmi Party-led National Capital's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that the city has devised a strategy and plan to counter the surge in Covid cases particularly due to new mutation and has infrastructure to treat the patients. The financial capital of India, Mumbai which suffered the maximum fallout from covid, bearing the peaking cases for a long time enforced a night curfew last week. In India, there is a decline in daily cases curve which is indicative of soaring recovery rates and has created an optimistic scenario complementing the rollout of vaccines. The CM pointed on the ups and down ventured during the pandemic and said that Delhi has braved three waves since the first case occurred in the country. The cases have dropped to less than 20,000 in a day.
After the festive season in November there was a surge in Covid cases in Delhi, where the city reached 8,500 cases in a day on an average which was the highest in the world. "Delhi still faced the circumstances and came out victorious," said the CM. Amid those times of miseries, the Centre called for measures like arranging more number of beds, flying in more doctors and para-medical staff from the army. The Delhi government was bashed for the negligence and untimely action by the Delhi HC as the appropriate measures were not adopted at the right moment.
Out of the six patients who were recently diagnosed with new strain, three are transferred to NIMHANS, Bengaluru, two in Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad and one in National Institute of Virology, Pune. The Centre is undertaking a special genome sequencing project not only on the arrivals from the UK but also the 5% population of infected patients to predict the possibility of mutation here.
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