LNJP director asks people to wear masks, take Covid-19 precaution dose

LNJP Hospital medical director Suresh Kumar on Thursday urged people to take the precaution dose of COVID-19 and not let their guard down during the upcoming festive season.

Kumar's appeal comes after the Centre urged all states and Union Territories to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive samples to keep track of emerging variants amid a spike in Covid cases in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China and the US.

The British-era hospital located in central Delhi has 2,000 beds and was the first to be turned into a Covid care facility soon after the first case of coronavirus was reported in early March in 2020.

At present, the hospital has 450 dedicated Covid beds, including 50 ICU beds, Kumar told PTI.

"We have a genome sequencing lab at the hospital. Covid is not over yet but at the same time we are fully prepared," he added.

In October this year, the Delhi government issued an order withdrawing the Rs 500 fine for not wearing masks in public places in the capital.

The order, however, advised people to wear masks in crowded public places.

In a meeting in September, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had decided to stop levying the penalty after September 30 amid a decline in Covid cases.

Kumar advised people to wear masks and take the booster doses of COVID-19 as it will protect them from the risk of infection.

"I want to appeal to the people to take the booster dose. Only 27 per cent of the eligible population has taken the booster dose which is not good," he added.

He also suggested that people should take special care of senior citizens and children, since "we do not know the severity of the new variant".

"During the festive season, we should not be careless about following the Covid protocols," he said.

The senior doctor of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital said people with comorbid conditions should not take cough and cold lightly and consult a doctor immediately.

"My special advice to those who have BP, sugar, cancer or any other ailment --please do not think cold and cough is not a disease and I will be fine on my own. Visit a doctor and get the treatment in time to avoid any further complications," he added.

Delhi logged five COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 0.19 per cent along with one fatality, according to data shared by the Health department on Wednesday.

The national capital's COVID-19 case tally has risen to 2,007,102 while the death toll stands at 26,520.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will convene an emergency meeting later in the day to discuss the Covid situation, officials said.

The Delhi government is keeping a watch on the COVID-19 situation and the chief minister has directed the health department to ensure genome sequencing of samples and take other steps needed to meet any eventuality, they had said.

In the letter to states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan had recently urged them to gear up the whole genome sequencing of positive samples.

He had said that such an exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures.

Kumar said the hospital had zero admissions due to Covid in the last 20 days.

"Even before that, only two Covid patients got admitted," he said.

The new variant BF.7 of the novel coronavirus, which is believed to be linked to the surge in Covid cases in certain parts of the world, has been detected in some parts of the country.

But Kumar said it is too early to talk about what could the impact of the new variant be since it has not been detected in the capital.

"The genome sequencing has been ramped up," he said.