Delhi’s air quality in ‘very poor’ category, cold wave persists
Delhi witnessed yet another day of toxic air on Sunday, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) remaining in the ‘very poor’ category for the second consecutive day.
As the new strain of Covid-19 raises concern amid the intensifying cold, Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Tuesday said that the new variant JN.1 is a subvariant of Omicron and that despite being not very dangerous necessitates precautions to prevent contracting the infection.
The Minister stressed that people should not panic and take requisite precautions to ward off the infection. He advised those with low immunity to avoid crowded places and try to stay at home to remain safe.
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Bharadwaj said that the government is assessing infrastructure in hospitals to ensure adequate preparations for Covid treatment.
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In the past 24 hours, Delhi recorded 3 fresh cases of Covid while 412 people tested positive for the infection across the country, a release issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. So far, 69 cases of the JN.1 variant have been reported across the nation, the release added.
The Delhi Health Minister had on Monday said that even as four Covid patients were admitted to hospitals in the national capital so far the situation does not warrant panic.
Recently, Bharadwaj had also asked for a genome sequencing report to ascertain whether the new Covid cases were of the new variants or not.
“On an average, 400-500 samples are being tested every day in Delhi out of which only 5-7 cases are reported positive. This suggests that the positivity is about one per cent. Most of the Covid patients did not require hospitalisation and they recovered after home isolation. Only a few required support of oxygen and ventilators,” Bharadwaj said.
The spike in Covid-19 cases emerged amid a rise in sub-variant cases across the country. The active Covid caseload in the country stands at 4,170, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Meanwhile, the Delhi health department has instructed authorities to send an ‘adequate’ number of Covid samples for RT-PCR tests amid an uptick in cases.
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