Covid: 58 new cases, one more death in Delhi

The national capital recorded 58 new COVID-19 cases and one more death on Saturday, while the positivity rate slightly decreased to 0.08 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here.

The single new fatality pushed the death toll in the city to 25,053, according to the latest bulletin.

The national capital logged 63 fresh COVID-19 cases and three deaths due to the disease on Friday, while the positivity rate stood at 0.09 per cent.

No death was recorded due to COVID-19 in Delhi on Thursday, while 51 fresh cases were reported with a positivity rate of 0.08 per cent, according to official data.

This was the third time since the start of the second Covid wave in Delhi that zero fatality had been logged in a day.

On July 18 and July 24 too, no death was recorded due to COVID-19, according to official figures.

On March 2 this year, the national capital had reported zero death due to the virus. On that day, the number of single-day infections stood at 217 and the positivity rate was 0.33 per cent.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the total number of anti-coronavirus vaccine doses administered in Delhi so far crossed the one-crore mark on Saturday and of the eligible population in the city, 50 per cent have received at least one jab. He hoped that more jabs will soon be available for the city.

During the April-May period, Delhi had been reeling under a brutal second wave of the pandemic, claiming a massive number of lives daily, with the recent oxygen supply shortage issue at various hospitals adding to the woes.

The infection rate which had reached 36 per cent in the last week of April has come down to less than 0.10 per cent now.

On February 16, 94 people were diagnosed Covid positive while the daily tally was 96 on January 27, according to official figures.

Since April 19, both daily cases and single-day deaths count had been spiralling up, with over 28,000 cases and 277 deaths recorded on April 20; rising to 306 fatalities on April 22. On May 3, the city registered a record 448 deaths, according to official data.

However, the number of cases have shown a downward trend and the positivity rate too has been shrinking in the last several days. The number of deaths per day has also been declining.

On May 15, Kejriwal had said, ''The virus is reducing in Delhi slowly and steadily, and I hope it diminishes completely and does not rise again. However, we are not going to become negligent in anyway'', while sounding a tone of caution.

Despite fall in daily cases in the last several days, Kejriwal had recently cautioned that the chances of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic were quite real, while asserting that his government was preparing on a ''war-footing'' to combat it.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had recently passed a colour-coded response action plan under which curbs will be implemented in accordance with the severity of the COVID-19 situation here to deal with a possible third wave of the pandemic.

The DDMA also has earlier announced further lifting of restrictions in view of the improved coronavirus situation.

Following the relaxations in norms, the Delhi Metro is running with full seating capacity from July 26, with no provision for standing travel for commuters.

A total of 70,355 tests, including 47,445 RT-PCR tests and 22,910 rapid antigen tests, were conducted a day ago, according to the health bulletin on Saturday.

The number of cumulative cases on Thursday stood at 14,36,265. Over 14.1 lakh patients have recovered from the virus.

The number of active cases slightly increased to 581 on Saturday from 580 a day before, as per the bulletin.

The number of people under home isolation was 177 on Saturday, same as on Friday, while the number of containment zones marginally decreased to 292 from 296 a day before, the bulletin said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)