A health worker takes a swab sample for COVID-19 testing at a government school in New Delhi. Delhi Coronavirus, Weather Today Live Updates: Delhi Thursday recorded 22 deaths due to the novel coronavirus, highest single-day rise since August 7 when the city recorded 23 fatalities after progressing into a downward trend. The doubling rate of Covid-19 has gone up to over 100 days, the Delhi government said as it revealed that 29.1 per cent people who took part in the latest sero-prevalence survey have anti-bodies against COVID-19.
According to the latest figures, the national capital recorded 1,215 fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 1.57 lakh, while the death toll from the disease mounted to 4,257. In a statement, the Delhi government credited Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘Delhi model’ of tackling COVID-19. “Delhi’s position is much better than the rest of the country, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department’s regional forecasting center has predicted moderate rains till Friday morning. Thereafter, the intensity will decrease and the city will witness on and off light rain. Another spell of moderate rain will begin from August 25. Incessant rains this week lashed the national capital and neighbouring areas, triggering long traffic snarls, uprooting trees and causing damage to property in many areas. The Aya Nagar weather station recorded 122.8 mm between 8.30 am on Wednesday and 8.30 am on Thursday, which was 11 times the normal rainfall.
Cariappa Marg in New Delhi waterlogged after heavy rains (Express Photo: Tashi Tobgyal)
According to the IMD’s latest predictions, light to moderate intensity falls are expected to occur over Delhi, Roorkee, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Kaithal over the next two hours.
The second round of the serological survey in Delhi, the results of which were released on Thursday, showed that about 29 per cent of those surveyed had the presence of novel coronavirus-specific antibodies in them.
The first round of this exercise, conducted between the last week of June and first week of July, had detected antibodies in about 23 per cent of the volunteers. That means that in the one-month period between the first and second rounds, the disease spread to just about an additional six per cent of the population.
This would indicate a very significant slowdown in the spread of the disease in the national capital. Though a slowdown is evident from the drop in the reported number of cases as well, the results of the latest survey do throw up a surprise because of the extent of the slowdown that would be required to make this possible. Most of the movement restrictions in Delhi have now been lifted and people-to-people interaction has increased manifold from the time the first serological survey was conducted.
The Covid-19 tally in India rose to 2,905,823 on Friday after 68,898 fresh cases were registered within a single day. As many as 983 deaths were also recorded on Thursday, taking the total to 54,849, according to latest data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Welcome to our Delhi Coronavirus and Weather Live blog. Delhi Thursday recorded 22 deaths due to the novel coronavirus, highest single-day rise since August 7 when the city recorded 23 fatalities after progressing into a downward trend. Meanwhile, the IMD has predicted moderate rains till Friday morning. Thereafter, the intensity will decrease and the city will witness on and off light rain. Follow all the latest updates here