Delhi recorded 1,527 COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 27.77 per cent on Thursday, according to data shared by the city government’s health department.
Two Covid-related deaths were also reported.
According to the latest bulletin, in one of these two fatalities, COVID-19 was the primary cause, while in the other, Covid was incidental.
Delhi’s single-day COVID-19 cases count breached the 1,000-mark for the first time in more than seven months on Wednesday, while the positivity rate stood at 23.8 per cent.
The national capital logged 1,149 fresh cases along with one fatality on Wednesday. However, the department had said that coronavirus was not the primary cause of death.
Delhi on August 18 last year recorded 1,964 cases, with a positivity rate of 9.42 per cent and eight fatalities due to Covid.
On August 19 last year, it recorded 1,417 cases, with a positivity rate of 7.53 per cent and three fatalities due to the viral disease.
On April 5 this year, Delhi logged 509 cases with a positivity rate of 26.54 per cent, the highest in nearly 15 months. The positivity rate touched the 30 per cent-mark in January last year.
On Thursday, the positivity rate rose to 27.77 per cent.
With the addition of the fresh cases, Delhi’s infection tally has risen to 20,18,777. The death toll stands at 26,549, it said.
One death pertaining to 2021 was reported today by a hospital, which has been included in the cumulative tally of deaths, the bulletin said.
The fresh cases emerged out of 5,499 tests conducted the previous day.
Delhi logged 980 Covid cases on Tuesday, the highest since August 20, with a positivity rate of 25.98 per cent, along with two fatalities. Delhi on Monday logged 484 single-day COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 26.58 per cent along with three deaths. It recorded 699 cases with a positivity rate of 21.15 per cent on Sunday, while four patients had died.
The city recorded 535 cases on Saturday with a positivity rate of 23.05 per cent. Amid a spurt in Covid cases, the Delhi government will soon be issuing guidelines for schools, even as Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj on Thursday assured that the Omicron variant XBB.1.16 is not leading to severe infection among children.
Delhi has witnessed a spurt in its single-day counts over the last fortnight amid a sharp rise in H3N2 influenza cases in the country. The number of fresh cases had dropped to zero on January 16, the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic. The health department on Thursday said 231 of 7,945 beds in the city’s dedicated Covid hospitals are occupied, while 2,212 patients are in home isolation.
The number of active cases currently stands at 3,962, it added.
Mock drills were conducted at hospitals in Delhi on Tuesday to ascertain their preparedness to tackle the disease amid a surge in cases in the national capital.
The drills were part of a nationwide exercise to take stock of the hospitals’ preparedness to tackle the surge in Covid cases.
Amid a gradual increase in the number of Covid cases in Delhi, medical experts have said the virus’ new XBB.1.16 variant could be driving the surge. However, they maintained that there is no need to panic and people should follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and get their booster shots.
They also said this rise in the number of cases could be the result of more people getting themselves tested for Covid as a precaution when they actually get infected with the influenza virus and develop fever and related symptoms. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said the rise in the number of influenza cases is due to the Influenza A sub-type H3N2. The H3N2 virus is leading to more hospitalisation than the other subtypes. The symptoms include a runny nose, persistent cough and fever.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)