COVID-19 Cases Rise in Delhi: Should the Mask Mandate Return?

Since 11 April, Delhi has witnessed a 265.69% surge in daily new cases, according to the health ministry's data.

Image used for representation only.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

After close to a two-month decline in COVID-19 cases, as we were getting back to our pre-pandemic lives with state governments lifting restrictions, the rise in COVID-19 cases in the national capital has started to sound alarm bells once again.

Since 11 April, Delhi has witnessed a whopping 265.69 percent surge in daily new cases, according to data released by the Union health government. On 11 April, daily cases were at 137 and on 18 April, this number rose to 501.

Not just Delhi but its neighbourhood state of Haryana has also reported a rise in daily active cases with the state reporting 1,200 fresh COVID cases in over 14 days between 31 March and 14 April as per an Indian Express report.

The most worrying part however is that there is also a reported rise in COVID cases among children, with some cases requiring hospitalisation as well. Multiple media reports point towards children with pre-existing health conditions complaining of cough, allergies, and viral infection.

While the surge in cases is only incremental, with total active case nationally being at 11,860, the spike in cases does put a question mark over the recent ease in restrictions like mask mandates in public areas.

To make sense of what this spike in COVID cases means, we spoke to Dr Chandrakant Lahariya, an epidemiologist and health systems expert. We also spoke to Prof Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director and Senior Paediatric Gastroenterologist at Apollo Hospitals Group and Dr Himanshu Batra, a paediatrician practising in New Delhi.