The Delhi government should remain watchful as the next three months are important and unlocking activities can lead to an increase in coronavirus cases, told V K Paul Niti Aayog member on Friday.
At a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) held on July 9, he also suggested that the city government consult the Centre before imposing any travel restrictions in the capital.
Dr Paul said that “unlock activity could lead to an increase in cases, though at present the positivity rate of cases is at its lowest point”, according to the minutes of the meeting made public on July 20.
Chief Secretary Vijay Dev flagged the presence of the Delta Plus — a coronavirus variant of concern — in 12 states and referred to the high case positivity rate in northeast India.
“The next three months are important; we need to be watchful,” the Niti Aayog member of health said.
Some restrictive measures like carrying negative RT-PCR reports for people coming from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra had been imposed in Delhi earlier he recalled.
Paul suggested that the “advice of the Government of India should be taken before imposing any restrictions on the movement of inter-state travel with Delhi being the capital of the country”.
It has been suggested by the Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, who chaired the DDMA meeting, that rather than asking for negative RTPCR test reports, vaccination certificates should be the criteria, as it will also promote vaccination at the same time.
The DDMA devises COVID-19 management policies for the national capital. The issue of idle stocks of vaccines with the private sector was raised by Chief Secretary Dev at the meeting.
It has been suggested by Paul that the Delhi administration may explore options, including obtaining such vaccine stocks for optimal utilization and early vaccination of focused sections of society.
Dr Samrian Panda of the Indian Council of Medical Research told the DDMA that the third wave of COVID-19 is “unlikely to be as severe as the second wave”.
“In the absence of these two factors, the projected third wave is unlikely to be as severe as the second wave. The timing of the third wave remains uncertain and it would be driven by factors outside the scope of modelling,” he said.
He said, during the second wave of COVID-19 different states faced heterogeneous situations. There were uncertainties and some states-initiated lockdown measures close to the peak of the second wave and some at an early stage. A substantial third wave would be plausible if any new and more infectious variant of coronavirus occurs and escapes prior immunity in the absence of adequate lockdown measures, he further mentioned.
Dr Panda suggested that vaccination efforts be ramped up to ease the impact of a possible third wave.