Downward trend in Delhi's COVID-19 positivity rate in last few days: Jain

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday said there has been a downward trend in COVID-19 positivity rate in the national capital and it will lead to good results by next week. "The positivity rate was 6.76 per cent on Friday. It has remained below 7 per cent in the last two-three days. Last week, it was around 8 per cent," Jain said.

The cumulative positivity rate has also dropped below 10 per cent for the first time, he said. The minister said Delhi has been witnessing a "downward trend" in the COVID-19 positivity rate over the last two to three days.

"It should lead to good results by next week," he said. On a lighter note, the minister said the word "community spread is stuck in technical terms".

"When people are getting infected in Delhi and all parts of the country in such large numbers, it should have been accepted as community spread. Only the Centre and Indian Council of Medical Research can tell whether it is community spread or not," Jain said. Asked if there was community spread in Delhi, he said, "It doesn't matter what I believe... I am not technically competent to say so." On Friday, the city reported 4,127 new cases and 30 deaths. As many as 61,037 tests were conducted and the positivity rate stood at 6.76 percent.

The cumulative positivity rate was 9.83 on Friday, down from 10.05 per cent on Tuesday. The death rate for the last 10 days is 0.69 per cent. The overall fatality rate is 2.05 per cent. New cases are doubling every 40 days.

The minister said more than 500 ICU beds have been made available for COVID-19 patients in private hospitals in the last few days. "More beds will be made available in private and government hospitals in the next two to three days," he said.

Asked if banquet halls and hotels will be roped in again to increase bed capacity considering the spike in new cases, he said around 7,000 hospital beds are occupied and more than 8,000 are empty. "We have been keeping a strict watch on the number of beds. We will ramp up bed capacity if the need arises," he said.

There were around 14,000 hospital beds available for COVID-19 patients in Delhi a month ago. The number has been increased to 15,000, the minister added. Jain said the Delhi government will review its strategy for containment zones with experts.

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Friday had issued directions to the government for drafting a fresh policy for containment zones to reduce positivity rate and mortality rate. On the Delhi High Court's directions to increase RT-PCR tests in the city, Jain said the number of RT-PCR and rapid-antigen tests doesn't seem equivalent because the government has increased testing manifolds.

RT-PCR tests are being conducted on those having symptoms. The rest are undergoing RAT tests, he said. "If you want to do bulk testing for say 500 people and no one is symptomatic, how can you conduct RT-PCR testing then?" he added.

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