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Friday's surge in the city is the biggest daily jump in seven months. The new variant is gradually spreading in the community, and it has been found in 54 per cent of the latest samples analysed in Delhi, the state's Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday.
The worrying details come as the Arvind Kejriwal government tries to ensure strict curbs across the national capital, including a ban on New Year's gatherings and events. Also, schools and cinemas have been shut again among other curbs under the "yellow alert". The positivity rate stands at 2.44 per cent.
In his New Year's message, the Chief Minister said: "COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in Delhi. Your government is taking all necessary steps to curb the spread. I am personally looking after the preparations and am very concerned about every resident. Please do not go out of the house unnecessarily, wear a mask, and get your vaccine doses on time."
Earlier this week, the Delhi Health Minister linked the recent surge in cases to international flights. "The cases have increased due to international flights. Even during the earlier wave, the cases rose with the flights coming in. There are many people who are testing negative at the airport and they are allowed to go home. After reaching home, they are tested again and results are positive. In the process, they are also infecting their family member," he told reporters.
Till last week, the city was registering somewhere between 100-200 cases in a day. However, this week, it has seen an alarming surge in the last few days. Yesterday, the daily cases passed the 1,000-mark after seven months.
Mumbai too recorded a huge jump of 5,428 cases, 47 per cent higher than Thursday.
India has recorded more than 1,200 cases of Omicron so far.
On Friday, the central government told states that anyone with fever, headache, sore throat, breathlessness, body ache, loss of taste or smell, fatigue, and diarrhea should be considered as a suspect case of Covid, and must be tested.
The curbs are likely to be intensified if the big cities continue to see an uptick in cases.
In an exclusive conversation with NDTV, WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said: "The surge is going to be very fast and many people are going to be sick."
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