308 new Covid cases in Gurgaon, lowest in 52 days; patients below 5,000 now

Gurgaon: The number of new Covid cases in the city on Sunday was in the 300s after 52 days. As many as 308 persons tested positive for the virus, taking the total number of cases to 1,78,637.
The last time that the district had cases in the 300-400 bracket was on April 1, when it reported 381 new patients. After that, the cases kept rising.
On Sunday, even the positivity rate came down to 3% — from 6% the previous day. Meanwhile, the number of active cases in the city stood at 4,985. This came as a huge relief as the number had nearly hit the 40,000-mark around 20 days ago.
However, five people succumbed to the virus on Sunday, taking the toll to 754. The fatality rate stood at 0.4%. Even though the cases are coming down, the Covid deaths are at a high. The city has added 278 deaths to its tally in the 23 days of this month.
Meanwhile, the city saw 2,319 people recover on the day, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,72,898. At present, the recovery rate stands at 93.8%. A total of 95 people were sent to institutional quarantine facilities on Sunday. So far, 14,81,159 people have been put under surveillance in the city.
In the past 24 hours, the health authorities collected 9,157 samples for antigen and RT-PCR tests. Till now, 14,68,573 samples have been sent for testing, of which 12,80,779 returned negative while the results of 1,541 are awaited.
With the cases coming down, the number of large outbreak regions (LORs) is also declining. At present, there are 107 LORs in the city. There were 172 of them a week ago.
The health department on Friday de-notified 66 areas while one new area was added to the fresh list. Notably, public movement is restricted in these areas and sticker measures have been initiated to curb the spread of the virus.
Officials said that intensive testing, screening and contact tracing of people in LORs are being carried out. According to RWAs and the health department, things have improved in the past week because of the restrictions and intensive testing.
Since May 1, the health department has carried out 36,543 antigen and 8,856 RT(PCR) tests in the LORs. Out of which, 543 tested positive. At present, 3,243 of the active cases are in LORs. According to the data from the health department, a total of 1,02,232 houses were surveyed and 4,327 people were found with ILI symptoms. “Even though the cases are declining, we are focusing on LORs. These small hotspots are a big concern at the moment,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurgaon.
As the cases have declined, the number of patients in hospitals have also dropped. At present, 1,954 severe cases are in hospitals and 27 in district Covid care centres (mild cases).
The bed availability has also improved in the last 10 days. As many as 1,000 beds were available in city hospitals as of 8 pm on Sunday. According to the data available on the Gurugram Covid Combat Companion portal, 50 ventilator beds and 164 ICU beds were available. The highest number of ICU beds was available in SGT hospital. A total of 39 ICU beds were available at the hospital and 9 ICU beds were available in Sunrise hospital as of 8 pm.
However, availability of ICU and ventilator beds remains a challenge. “As hospitalisation in Covid cases is required in the second week of infection, the requirement of ICU and ventilator beds will remain an issue in the district. However, the situation has improved as the daily positivity has come down from 32%. More ICU and ventilator beds will be added once the makeshift hospital starts operating,” said Yadav.