Govt To Fly In Medical Staff Amid Rising Cases In Delhi

India will fly in doctors from other regions, double the quantity of tests carried out and ensure people wear masks in efforts to contain the coronavirus spread in the capital New Delhi, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday.

“Amit Shah also directed that the hospital capacity and availability of other medical infrastructure should be ramped up considerably,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement on Sunday.

While India’s daily increase in cases has been under the 50,000 mark for eight straight days, around half its record peak, the city state of Delhi has recorded over 7,000 cases a day over the last five days – a record level.

“Delhi has witnessed a huge surge in daily active cases which is likely to worsen over next few weeks,” Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said in a tweet on Sunday.

India will also employ retired doctors, conduct door-to-door surveys and employ increased tracking to fight the spread of the virus in Delhi, Vardhan said.

Meanwhile, Johnson & Johnson launched a new late-stage trial in Britain on Monday to test a two-dose regimen of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine among thousands of volunteers, as the U.S. drugmaker expands its trials by geography and type.

The UK arm of the study is aiming to recruit 6,000 participants among a total of 30,000 people globally, scientists leading the UK trial said. Volunteers will be recruited at 17 sites across the UK.

They will be given a first dose of either a placebo or the experimental shot, currently called Ad26COV2, followed by a second dose or placebo 57 days later, said Saul Faust, a professor of paediatric immunology and infectious diseases, who is co-leading the trial at University Hospital Southampton.