Community-spreading Omicron variant, found in about 54% of samples

According to the data released by the state health department, Delhi recorded 1,313 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, which is almost 42% more than the day before. Cases in the national capital were the highest since May 26, while the positivity rate rose to 1.73%.

However, no fresh death was reported in the city. On Wednesday, the city recorded 923 cases with a positivity rate of 1.29%. The positivity rate crossed the one percent mark after a gap of seven months.

A “Yellow” alert was issued by the DDMA on Tuesday under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), which mandates plying of DTC buses and Metro trains with 50% seating capacity and no standing for passengers.

Under the GRAP, if the positivity rate stabilizes at 0.5% for two consecutive days, a ‘yellow’ alert will be triggered, leading to several restrictions.

The ‘Yellow’ alert ban stipulates that shops and establishments and malls of non-essential goods and services will open from 10 am to 8 pm on an odd-even formula.

Marriages and funerals will allow the presence of 20 persons while all other gatherings related to social, political, cultural, religious and festival events will be banned. Also, the Delhi Metro will run at 50% of its seating capacity, while auto-rickshaws and cabs can carry two passengers. Buses with exempted class passengers will also run at 50% of the capacity.

Jain said if the situation continues, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will take a decision on imposing more restrictions.

Earlier in the day, Jain had said, “The latest genome sequencing report has shown that 46% of cases have Omicron. These people include people who have no travel history. This means that Omicron is now inside Delhi.” Is.”

When asked whether Omicron will be the dominant variant in the impending third wave of the pandemic, Jain said, “In fact, the variant is spreading slowly in the community and its proportion will increase in the coming days.”