Delhi doctors ‘forced to work with Covid’ as relaxed testing guidelines mask true scale of Omicron wave

New guidelines have recommended more ‘strategic’ testing, but with one in five samples proving positive, doctors tell Stuti Mishra that their patients are being put at risk

Hospitals across Delhi have been witnessing an increase in admissions since the beginning of this month (AP)

With India in the midst of an Omicron-fuelled coronavirus wave, doctors working in Delhi’s top hospitals say new policies to restrict testing mean they are being forced to work gruelling shifts while Covid positive.

Though the healthcare system has not been stretched to the same degree as during last year’s second wave, India’s Covid figures are rivalling the peak last summer, and the country recorded 286,000 cases on Thursday alone.

Cases have dipped slightly since they hit an eight-month high last week of over 300,000, but experts are concerned there is also not enough testing – the national positivity rate remains at almost 20 per cent, meaning one in every five people getting tested has Covid.