For the first time, fifteen days after the first Omicron case was detected in Delhi and all cases so far were the ones with a travel history and referred to hospitals from the Delhi international airport, Delhi now has three confirmed Omicron positive patients who do not have a travel history.
When asked whether any Omicron positive cases have been reported from those who do not have a travel history abroad, Jain said, “Three such cases have been reported who have not travelled, they may or may not have come in contact with those with travel history abroad.”
Jain clarified that these three do not have a travel history. The minister, however, declined to comment on the possibility of a community spread of the Omicron virus pointing out that the central government has never acknowledged a community spread of Corona. The primary and secondary contacts of these three people are being traced.
While the data shared by the central government put the total number of Omicron positives in Delhi at 54, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain maintained that the data available with him showed that there are 34 Omicron positive cases in Delhi while 17 have been discharged. The minister did say that he would check again and it is possible that the additional Omicron positive cases are being reported from the central government’s own hospitals.
Speaking on the possibility of a third wave come February next year, Jain said that there were two aspects – one is to treatment while the other is to prevent the infection, whether it is Omicron or Alpha or Beta or Delta, each is a variant of Corona, there are two things one is to treat and the second is to prevent being infected.
“The experience of the past two years has shown that if everyone wears a mask, 95% to 98% of patients can be saved. Of all the cases that are being reported in Delhi, only 2 % or 3 % of cases will land in the hospital, if Delhi is reporting a hundred to 200 cases per day, 2 to 5 will reach the hospitals. Therefore, everyone should wear masks. The government is preparing to deal with the surge but we hope that hospitals will not be needed,”
In a major decision, the Delhi government has decided to send samples of all those testing positive for Covid for genome sequencing to further understand whether the new cases are of the Omicron or Delta variant.
The Delhi government has two genome testing labs at the LNJP hospital and the ILBS hospital. Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that both can handle up to 800 samples per week while the central government’s own genome testing labs can handle much more.
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