As coronavirus cases rise, is Delhi heading towards a fourth wave?

Covid 4th wave in Delhi: The positivity rate has increased in the last seven days from 2.39 percent on April 14 to 4.71 percent on April 21

In line with the global trend, the daily count of new coronavirus (Covid-19) cases has also gone up in India in the last seven days.

New Delhi, which faced a severe hospital crisis in the second wave, is also witnessing a gradual rise in the number of Covid-19 cases. 

The city recorded 965 cases and 1 death on Thursday. While the cases fell slightly compared to the 1,009 cases on Wednesday, the positivity rate has increased in the last seven days from 2.39 per cent on April 14 to 4.71 per cent on April 21.

But does the rise in cases indicate the onset of a fourth wave? Experts say this cannot be termed as a fourth wave yet.

“We are having a rise in the number of people infected and it may go up even further as immunity veins and people become extremely mobile and start discarding Covid appropriate behavior. However what matter is how many people are getting severely ill and hospitalized and in need of intensive care and the number of deaths but those numbers are going to be very small, so we are not going to see a fourth wave in that sense,” K Srinath Reddy, president of Public Health Foundation of India, told Business Standard.

According to official sources, a highly transmissible subvariant of Omicron, BA.2.12.1 was found in 60 per cent of the total samples tested in Delhi.

While the Delhi government announced that schools would continue to remain open at the moment, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority made masks compulsory in public spaces with a fine of Rs 500 for not wearing masks.

On Thursday, the Kejriwal government announced free booster doses for all eligible beneficiaries in the 18-59 age group at government vaccination centers.

"In order to give the benefit of precaution dose to all eligible beneficiaries in Delhi, the same will be available for 18 to 59 years age group, free of cost in all government CVCs from April 21," the health department said in an order.