Delhi's COVID-19 case tally goes past 3 lakh; death toll climbs to 5,653

The active caseload marginally rose to 22,232 on Thursday from 22,186 the previous day, according to the Delhi government's health bulletin. The bulletin said the total number of cases has climbed to 3,00,833.

Delhi's COVID-19 tally crossed the three-lakh mark on Thursday with 2,726 fresh cases, while the death toll due to the disease mounted to 5,653 with 37 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours, authorities said. On Wednesday, the case tally stood at over 2.98 lakh with 2,871 fresh cases, while the death toll was 5,616 with 35 fresh casualties.

The fresh cases on Thursday were detected after 53,322 COVID-19 tests were conducted the previous day. The active caseload marginally rose to 22,232 on Thursday from 22,186 the previous day, according to the Delhi government's health bulletin.

The bulletin said the total number of cases has climbed to 3,00,833. The number of COVID-19 containment zones rose to 2,734 in the national capital from 2,702 on Wednesday.

After rising steadily for over 40 days, the number of such zones marked to contain the spread of COVID-19 fell for the first time to 2,697 in Delhi on October 6, a marginal dip compared to the figures of the previous day, according to official data. The positivity rate stood at 5.11 per cent on Thursday, while the recovery rate was 90.73 per cent, the bulletin said, adding that the case fatality rate stood at 1.88 per cent. The death rate of the last 10 days stood at 1.37 per cent. The cumulative positivity rate since March stood at 8.66 per cent.

Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain held a meeting with the medical directors and medical superintendents of all hospitals run by the city government to review the status of COVID-19 testing. Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev also held a review meeting with all the district magistrates on COVID-19 management.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in the national capital has significantly ramped up testing over the last few days, with the count crossing the 60,000-mark several times. The number of Rapid Antigen Tests conducted stood at 43,197 while the RT-PCR, CBNAAT and True NAAT tests figures were 10,125, adding up to 53,322, according to the bulletin.

The number of tests done per 10-lakh population was 1,82,936 as on Thursday, while the total number of tests conducted stood at 34,75,795. The bulletin said a total of 2,72,948 patients have recovered, migrated or have been discharged from hospitals so far.

Since September, the number of daily cases had begun to rise in the city. From the last week of September, it has come down a bit. According to the bulletin, of the 15,833 beds in COVID hospitals, 10,563 are vacant.

It said 979 beds in COVID care centres are occupied by persons under quarantine, including travellers who have returned by Vande Bharat Mission flights and flights operated under bubble arrangements formed with other countries. The number of people in home isolation rose to 12,890 from 12,691 on Wednesday.