Delhi: 350 deaths, active cases close in on 1L mark

New Delhi: After 357 Covid deaths — the highest till date — on Saturday, Delhi has reported 350 deaths in the past 24 hours. Although the number of cases has come down a bit, the detection tests have also seen a dip.

According to the state government health bulletin, 22,933 fresh cases were reported on Sunday against 24,103 on Saturday, but the positivity rate was still high at 30.2%. The number of Covid tests has declined in the past few days and only 75,912 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours against 1,08,534 on April 14.

Dr Arun Gupta, the president of Delhi Medical Council, said as the major surge in Covid-19 cases had started around 10 days ago, the number of deaths was likely to increase. “I am afraid that this might continue for the next week or so because the number of cases is still very high. Once the number of cases starts declining, deaths will also come down,” added Dr Gupta.

The positivity rate, though still high, has declined in the past three days. Delhi reported 36.2% positivity rate, the highest till date, on April 22, which now stands at 30.2%. On Saturday, it was 32.27%. “The positivity rate has reduced a bit in the past two-three days. This is not to say that the disease is ebbing, though that is the hope. It may increase or decrease in the coming days, but our efforts will always be directed towards controlling the spread of the virus,” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said at a press conference on Sunday.

Though 21,071 patients have recovered in the past 24 hours, the recent surge in Covid-19 cases has pushed the number of active cases in the capital to 94,592, out of which 52,296 are in home isolation. Delhi has 27,366 containment zones, again the highest till date.

The number of gold-standard RT-PCR tests continues to be higher than rapid antigen tests. On Sunday, 45,315 RT-PCR tests were carried out while the number of rapid antigen tests was 30,597. The labs are overloaded and reports are often coming late. A total of 1.7 crore tests have been conducted in the capital so far.

The vaccination drive in the city has, however, taken a blow due to the surge and the lockdown. According to Sunday’s health bulletin, 69,677 people were vaccinated in the past 24 hours. The single-day turnout had touched 1 lakh before the lockdown. Though permitted, many people are now avoiding travelling to vaccination centres.