Delhi records 6,953 new COVID-19 cases and 79 deaths

The national capital recorded 6,953 fresh coronavirus cases and 79 deaths on Saturday, the highest number of fatalities in over four months, officials said.

The cases were detected out of the 57,433 tests conducted the previous day while the positivity rate stood at 12.11 per cent, according to the latest health bulletin. The 6,953 cases took the infection tally to over 4.3 lakh, it said.

On Friday, Delhi recorded over 7,000 COVID-19 cases for the first time while the recovery rate was over 89 per cent.

The number of Rapid Antigen Tests conducted on Friday stood at 42,024 and the RT-PCR, CBNAAT and True NAAT tests figures were 15,409 in all adding to 57,433, according to the bulletin. The number of containment zones in Delhi increased to 3,857 from 3,754 on Friday.

The sudden spike in cases comes amid the festive season and rising pollution level. While Durga Puja celebrations ended on October 25, Diwali and Chhath will be celebrated on November 14 and 20.

The National Centre for Disease Control in a report drafted recently had warned that Delhi needs to be prepared for about 15,000 fresh COVID-19 cases daily taking into account the upcoming winter season-related respiratory problems, large influx of patients from outside and festive gatherings.

According to the Saturday bulletin, out of the total number of 15,904 beds in COVID hospitals, 8,046 are vacant. It said that 516 beds in COVID care centres are occupied by people under quarantine including travellers who have returned by Vande Bharat Mission and bubble flights.

The Delhi government has significantly ramped up testing in the last few days, with the count on several times crossing the 60,000-mark.

The number of tests done per million, as on Friday, was over 2.65 lakh while the total number of tests stood at more than 50 lakh. The bulletin said that 3,83,614 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far.

Since September, daily cases had begun to rise in the city. From the last week of September, it had stated to come down a bit. The number of people in home isolation rose to 24,100 on Saturday compared to 23,679 on Friday. 

(Photo Credit: PTI)