Despite the sudden COVID spike in several states, many people in Delhi and neighboring cities are hesitating to get tested or undergo rapid antigen tests after getting COVID-like symptoms.
Noting that the coronavirus is again showing an increasing trend, NGO LocalCircle said, “With only 1,500-1,800 daily cases reported Delhi And with another 600-1,000 reported in NCR cities, many are questioning whether these reported cases are predictive of its spread? covid-19 accurate.”
What did the COVID study indicate?
For this particular study, the NGO spoke to several families in the NCR region and inquired whether they or anyone in their family had symptoms in the last 30 days and how they got themselves tested in such a situation.
The survey received 11,059 responses from citizens located across all districts of Delhi-NCR. Of these, 64 percent of the respondents were men while 36 percent of the respondents were women. The NGO claimed, “Of those who had symptoms of COVID, only 16 per cent did RT-PCR test, 34 per cent did RAT (Rapid Antigen Test) at home and 50 per cent did not do any test.”
A similar survey conducted by LocalCircle in April 2022 indicated 33% of Delhi-NCR residents saying they had done RT-PCR test after having symptoms. In June 2022, this percentage dropped to just 16%. This means that Delhi-NCR’s official number of cases could be underestimated by 84 per cent, as most people opt for antigen testing at home or do not test at all, the survey also said.
Earlier, many experts had pointed out that although people are not getting serious infection from COVID at this time, it is always advised to take precautions. While there is nothing to panic at this point in time, ignoring it can lead to a large-scale spread of the virus, leading to further mutations, allowing a new variant to emerge.
COVID tally in Delhi
According to data shared by the city’s health department, Delhi on Sunday recorded 1,530 new Covid cases and three deaths in a day, while the positivity rate rose to 8.41 per cent.
This is the fifth consecutive day that Delhi recorded over 1,300 cases in a day. Fresh cases were detected out of 18,183 COVID tests conducted on Sunday. The department said in its bulletin that the fresh infection took Delhi’s Covid case tally to 19,22,089, while the death toll rose to 26,232.