Delhi sees over 4,000 new Covid-19 cases 5th day in a row, tally nears 2.2 lakh

Since August end, the number of active cases has nearly doubled in the national capital

New Delhi: The tally of coronavirus cases in Delhi rose to 2.18 lakh on Sunday with 4,235 more people contracting the viral disease, while 29 fresh fatalities in the last 24 hours pushed the death toll to 4,744.

This was the fifth day in a trot that the national capital recorded a daily spike of over 4,000 fresh cases. The city recorded its biggest single-day jump of 4,321 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, 4,266 on Friday, 4,308 on Thursday and 4,039 on Wednesday.

Of the total 2,18,304 cases reported in Delhi so far, 1,84,748 have either recovered, been discharged or migrated out.

In the last 24 hours, 56,656 tests were conducted to detect COVID-19 infection, of which 10,116 were RTPCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 46,540 rapid antigen tests. A record 60,580 tests were conducted last Friday, followed by 60,076 on Saturday.

The health authorities have conducted around 5.5 lakh tests in the last 13 days -- with an average of more than 42,000 a day. The number of total tests conducted was 15,83,485 on August 31. It rose to 21,39,432 on Sunday.

The case positivity rate during the last 24 hours was 7.48 per cent while the cumulative positivity rate was 10.20 per cent.

Since August end, the number of active cases has nearly doubled in the city. It was 14,626 on August 31 and 28,812 on Sunday.

There has been over 78 per cent increase in the number of containment zones in the city -- from from 833 on August 31 to 1,488 on Sunday.

During the same period, the number of occupied beds in hospitals has risen from 4,146 to 6,503. There were 9,999 COVID-19 beds available in the city on August 31 as against 7,874 left on Sunday.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led government scaled up COVID-19 testing through its network of hospitals, dispensaries and mohalla clinics as the number of cases started going up towards the end of August.

The chief minister had said that daily testing would be increased to 40,000. To facilitate this, the government set up testing counters in public places such as weekly markets, interstate bus terminals and began testing all those coming to Delhi for treatment and work.

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