The fresh cases took Bengal cumulative count to 15,97,095, while active cases currently number 8,137. The positivity rate stands at 2.53 per cent.(Representational Express Photo/Amit Chakravarty) Delhi reported 47 Covid cases on Sunday at a positivity rate of 0.11%. While the number of cases reported per day and the positivity rate are under control, senior government officials are monitoring cases in each district closely to track any significant increase during the festival season.
The positivity rate in the city crossed 0.1% for the first time on Thursday since the first week of August.
According to senior Delhi government officials, the slight increase in the positivity rate — it has mostly hovered near the 0.06%-0.07% mark for over a month — is not a cause for concern at present but might indicate that the spread is higher after the festival season started in October.
“There were apprehensions, which were also expressed
during the Delhi Disaster Management Authority meetings, that the case count could increase after Navratri as social activities were resuming. We need to monitor the situation closely to see if this is the case. The second reason for the increase is that the number of tests has dipped over the past week or so because of festivals. We have seen that fewer people, mostly those with symptoms, get tested during such times. As the number of tests dip, the positivity rate increases,” an official said.
While Delhi was testing an average of around 65,000 people a day, this fell to just a little over 22,000 on Diwali (Thursday) and around 43,000 on Saturday (results for which are recorded in the Sunday numbers).
Delhi’s active case count was 365 on Sunday. Out of the 9,286 hospital beds set aside for Covid patients, only 157 are occupied.
Not all patients admitted in Delhi hospitals are from the city. “Some patients are from NCR towns like Noida and Gurgaon as well. Overall, we have seen that the severity of cases is not very high. Most people have already got at least one shot of the vaccine,” said a doctor at GTB Hospital, which sees a high influx of patients from UP.
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