Delhi records 805 fresh coronavirus cases; study shows R value has fallen below 1

national capital recorded 805 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday, its lowest in last eight days, taking infection tally to over 1.38 lakh, authorities said.

With 17 fatalities, death toll mounted to 4,021, according to a health bulletin.

According to bulletin, 10,133 tests -- 3,904 RTCPR and 6,229 Rapid Antigen -- were conducted in last 24 hours. On an aver, 18,000-19,000 tests were being conducted daily since testing was ramped up significantly in mid-June.

On Sunday, 961 fresh cases were reported and only 12,730 tests conducted due to Eid al-Adha. So far, 10,73,802 tests have been conducted in Delhi, bulletin said.

On July 27, 613 fresh cases were recorded in Delhi while 11,506 tests were conducted in city.

With 805 fresh cases on Monday, infection tally climbed to 1,38,482 in national capital.

re are 10,207 active cases, health bulletin said. recovery rate and positivity rate stand at 89.72 per cent and 7.94 per cent respectively. bulletin said 5,577 people are recovering in home isolation.

Delhi has recorded a steady decline in active cases.

Meanwhile, R-value, or reproduction number, for COVID-19 has fallen below one in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai, indicating a slowdown in spread of disease in three of India's biggest cities, according to a recent study.

A modelling study published in journal Statistics & Applications found current R-value for Delhi is 0.66 while it is 0.81 for Mumbai and 0.86 for Chennai, lower than national aver of 1.16.

R-value is number of people getting infected by an already infected person on an aver. Andhra Pradesh has highest R-value of 1.48 in entire country right w.

Explaining Delhi figure of 0.66 to illustrate concept, Sitabhra Sinha, professor of physics at Institute of Mamatical Sciences (IMSc) in Chennai who led study, said this means every group of 100 infected persons in city can currently pass on infection to ar 60 people on an aver.

"Continuation of such a low value of R in a community implies that current wave of pandemic is on decline and could be brought under control in near future with continued containment measures,” said Dibyendu Nandi, professor of physics at Kolkata's Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER).

"Typically an effective reproduction number, i.e., R-value lower than one implies that an infected person, on aver, is spreading infection to at most one person,” he explained.

After Delhi government revised containment zone policy last week, ir number stands at 496 w.

In a related development, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal handed over a cheque of Rs 1 crore to family of Joginder Chaudhary, 27-year-old deceased junior resident doctor of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Hospital.

Chaudhary died due to COVID-19 last month.

"Our Corona Warrior Dr. Joginder Chaudhary, posted in Delhi Government Hospital, served patients by putting his life at stake. Dr. Chaudhary had passed away recently due to corona infection, today I met his family and handed over a cheque of Rs. 1 crore as financial assistance. Will help family in every possible way," chief minister tweeted.