COVID-19 patients undergo treatment at Guru Tegh Bahadur COVID Care Centre at the Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib, in New Delhi, Thursday. With 3,009 fresh Covid cases recorded in Delhi in the past 24 hours, and 63,190 tests being conducted, the positivity rate in the national capital came down below the 5% mark on Friday.
After a Covid surge that lasted around three weeks and pushed the capital’s health infrastructure to the brink, the numbers of cases have been falling of late, ostensibly because of a citywide lockdown that is now in its fifth week.
While the positivity rate over the past 24 hours stood at 4.76%, the capital’s cumulative positivity rate — the percentage of people who test positive among those tested — is 7.6%.
The capital recorded 252 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the toll to 22,831.
While the virus appears to be on a downward trajectory, the capital is facing a fresh crisis as cases of mucormycosis or black fungus are reported in more and more hospitals. This has prompted the Delhi government to set up three dedicated centres for its treatment in its hospitals — LNJP, GTB and Rajiv Gandhi.
The Centre told the Delhi High Court on Thursday that there are close to 200 mucormycosis cases in the city at present, against 7,251 in the country. Many hospitals have complained that they are not able to access amphotericin B, the anti-fungal used to treat the infection.
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