Covid cases in Delhi may peak in couple of weeks: LNJP's medical director

A newborn diagnosed with Covid-19 has been admitted to LNJP Hospital, its medical director said, as he cautioned that coronavirus cases in the national capital will peak in the next couple of weeks

A newborn diagnosed with COVID-19 has been admitted to LNJP Hospital here, its medical director said on Thursday, as he cautioned that coronavirus cases in the national capital will peak in the next couple of weeks.

Delhi's single-day caseload addition on Wednesday breached the 1,000-mark for the first time in over seven months while the positivity rate stood at 23.8 per cent, according to data shared by the Health department.

The national capital logged 1,149 fresh cases and one fatality on Wednesday.

Dr Suresh Kumar, the medical director at LNJP Hospital, told PTI during an interaction that wearing masks has been made "mandatory" at the facility.

The 2,000-bed British-era facility is the largest hospital under the Delhi government.

"Children are not vaccinated, so we need to take precautions for them as they are getting symptoms like fever, cough, eye infection and stomach infection as well. This variant (XBB.1.16) is affecting children more. An 18-day-old newborn has even been admitted to our hospital and the child is Covid positive," he said.

Four more children are admitted to the hospital, Kumar said.

It is better to wear masks in schools and public places and even senior citizens should wear masks. Precaution is surely better, he said.

"We will see the peak of Covid cases in one-two weeks and the graph will go down from thereon," Kumar said, adding, "We have made all arrangements in the hospital for patients, including children, as they are coming in more numbers with infection".

Amid a gradual increase in the number of Covid cases in Delhi, medical experts have said the virus' new XBB.1.16 variant could be driving the surge.

However, they maintained that there is no need to panic and people should follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and get their booster shots.

Mock drills were conducted at hospitals in Delhi on Tuesday to ascertain their preparedness to tackle the disease amid a surge in cases in the national capital.

The drill was conducted as part of a nationwide exercise to take stock of hospitals' preparedness to tackle the surge in Covid cases.

Kumar said more cases are being reported in the city but there is no need to panic.

"Only 10 patients have been admitted to our hospital while 440 Covid beds are vacant. The objective of the exercise is to ascertain our preparedness in terms of availability of essential medicine, equipment and staff," he had said on Tuesday.

Talking about the recent Covid-related deaths, Kumar has said only those who had severe comorbidities such as tuberculosis, cancer and chronic lung diseases, among others, succumbed to the infection.