Daily Covid cases in Delhi cross 2,000-mark after six months; TPR 11.64%

Fresh Covid cases in Delhi crossed the 2,000-mark on Wednesday after six months, while the city also reported five fatalities due to the viral infection, according to data shared by the health department here.

The national capital on Wednesday reported 2,073 COVID-19 cases with a test positivity rate of 11.64 per cent, the data showed. This is the highest positivity rate since January 24 when it was 11.79 per cent.

Also, this is the third day in a row that the positivity rate breached the 10-per cent mark.

Wednesday's infection figures were the highest since February 4, when the national capital had logged 2,272 cases and 20 deaths. The deaths recorded on Wednesday were the highest since June 25 when six deaths were reported due to COVID-19 in the city.

On Tuesday, Delhi had reported 1,506 Covid cases and three fatalities, while the positivity rate stood at 10.69 per cent.

With the fresh infections on Wednesday, the Covid case tally in the national capital rose to 19,60,172 while the death toll reached 26,321. A total of 17,815 tests were conducted the previous day to detect COVID-19, the health department data showed.

The positivity rate and daily Covid cases in the city have risen steadily in the last one week.

On Monday, Delhi reported a positivity rate of 11.41 per cent, with 822 new cases and two fatalities. A day before, the city recorded 1,263 COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 9.35 per cent.

On Saturday, the city logged 1,333 cases with a positivity rate of 8.39 per cent while three people succumbed to the viral disease.

The city saw 1,245 Covid cases on Friday with a positivity rate of 7.36 per cent, and one fatality. It had recorded 1,128 cases on Thursday with a positivity rate of 6.56 per cent, while no death was reported.

Delhi currently has 5,637 active cases, up from 5,006 the previous day. As many as 3,214 Covid patients are in home isolation.

Of the 9,405 beds reserved for coronavirus patients in various Delhi hospitals, only 376 were occupied on Wednesday. Beds at Covid care centres and Covid health centres were lying vacant, the latest bulletin said.

There are 183 containment zones in the city at present, it added.

Delhi has reported a few cases of the BA.4 and the BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron, which are highly transmissible. The number of daily COVID-19 cases in Delhi had touched the record high of 28,867 on January 13 this year during the third wave of the pandemic. The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the third wave of the pandemic.