Published 15:17 IST, September 19th 2020
Centre should’ve admitted that there is community spread of COVID in Delhi: Satyendar Jain
As Delhi continues to see a spike in its daily coronavirus cases, Satyendra Jain said he feels community spread of coronavirus is happening in national capital
With the surge in Coronavirus cases in the country, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday said that a large number of COVID cases in the country point towards "community spread", adding that only the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) or Centre can comment on this. His statement comes after 2,147 fresh COVID-19 cases were recorded in the national capital on Friday while 61,037 tests were conducted for the virus.
Exuding confidence over community spread, and said that only the Central government or the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) can comment on the
"When people in such large numbers are getting infected in Delhi and other parts of the country, it should have been admitted that there is community spread. I believe that there is a spread inside the community. This is absolutely a technical term, scientists will be able to tell better," said Satyendar.
Furthermore, the Delhi Health Minister said that there has been a downward trend in the COVID-19 positivity rate in the national capital and it will lead to good results by next week. He added that the doubling rate in Delhi has reached 40 days.
"The positivity rate was 6.76 per cent on Friday. It has remained below 7 per cent in the last two-three days. Last week, it was around 8 per cent. The cumulative positivity rate has also dropped below 10 per cent for the first time,"Jain said.
Coronavirus in Delhi
Delhi's coronavirus tally breached the 2.38 lakh mark with 4,127 fresh cases, while the death toll mounted to 4,907 on Friday, authorities said. Thirty fresh fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours, they added. According to the Delhi government's health bulletin, a total of 61,037 tests were conducted the previous day.
The total number of cases stands at 2,38,828, out of which 2,01,671 patients have either recovered, migrated out or been discharged while there are 32,250 active cases, as per the bulletin. The positivity rate stands at 6.76 per cent. The number of containment zones has increased to 1,751, the bulletin said.
(Image credits: PTI)
Updated 15:17 IST, September 19th 2020