COVID-19 in Delhi: 703 fresh cases, positivity rate 0.83 pc

Delhi recorded 703 fresh COVID-19 cases and 28 new fatalities on Tuesday, even as the positivity rate dropped to 0.83 per cent, authorities said. The infection tally in the city mounted to over 6.24 lakh and death toll rose to 10,502 on Tuesday, they said, adding that over 84,000 tests were conducted the previous day.From December 21-23, the daily cases count had been below the 1,000-mark.

Delhi recorded 703 fresh COVID-19 cases and 28 new fatalities on Tuesday, even as the positivity rate dropped to 0.83 per cent, authorities said. The infection tally in the city mounted to over 6.24 lakh and death toll rose to 10,502 on Tuesday, they said, adding that over 84,000 tests were conducted the previous day.

From December 21-23, the daily cases count had been below the 1,000-mark. On December 21, 803 cases were reported; 939 on December 22 and 871 on December 23. However, on December 24, 1,063 cases were recorded, dropping again to 758 on December 25 and 655 on December 26. On December 27, 757 cases were recorded while on December 28, the daily cases count was 564, the lowest in the last five months.

The latest 703 cases came out the 84,889 tests conducted the previous day, including 42,863 RT-PCR tests and 42,026 rapid antigen tests, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. On August 17, Delhi had recorded 787 cases, and 652 on August 16.

The active cases tally on Tuesday stood at 6,122. The bulletin said the total number of cases has climbed to 6,24,118, while the recovery rate stood at over 97 per cent.

The highest single-day spike till date -- 8,593 cases -- was reported on November 11. Meanwhile, sources said coronavirus test samples of 15 persons who recently arrived here from the UK and tested positive for COVID-19 have been sent for genome sequencing to check if they have contracted the new variant of the virus.

According to the Tuesday bulletin, out of the total number of 18,727 beds in COVID hospitals, 16,367 are vacant. It said 69 beds in COVID care centres are occupied by persons under quarantine, including travellers who have returned by Vande Bharat Mission and bubble flights.

The Delhi government had significantly ramped up testing in the past few weeks, with the count on several times crossing the 60,000-mark. The number of tests done per million, as on Monday was over 4.4 lakh, while the total number of tests stood at over 84 lakh.

The bulletin said 6,07,494 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far. The number of containment zones in Delhi dropped to 4,450 on Tuesday from 4,563 the previous day, authorities said.

The number of people in home isolation dropped to 2,976 on Tuesday from 3,153 the previous day. PTI KND SRY.