Delhi reports nearly 250 new Covid-19 cases, first time since mid-June

There has been a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the capital, with new cases crossing the 200-mark for the first time since mid-June. Delhi on Saturday reported 249 new cases of the infection which is the highest since June 13 when 255 new cases were reported, as per the data. This week, over 144 cases were reported on average each day in comparison to over 70 cases last week and 51.4 cases on average the week before.

The data also showed that Delhi reported another death due to the infection, which is the fourth death in a week. There were no deaths recorded in the nine days before that.

Not only has the absolute number of cases gone up, the positivity rate – the proportion of the total samples that return positive – shot up to 0.43 per cent on Saturday with 57,295 tests conducted. The first level of restrictions under the Delhi government’s Graded Response Action Plan kicks in when positivity rate remains over 0.5 per cent for two consecutive days, or cumulative new positive cases for the week touch the 1,500-mark, or occupancy of oxygen beds remains at 500 for a week.

Positivity rate is an important marker of the spread of the infection in the city, and although it has been below 0.1% almost constantly since mid-July, it started increasing over the last ten days. In comparison, the positivity rate at the beginning of March this year stood at 0.44 per cent just before the devastating second wave of the pandemic in the city when over 28,000 cases were reported in a single day at the peak.

By the end of March the positivity rate had shot up to 2.71% and by the end of April to 32.69 per cent, as per the data.

The increase in positivity rate has been despite an increase in the number of tests being conducted; the rate usually dips when there is an increase in tests. On average over 57,000 tests were conducted in the city each day during the last seven days. There were 53,505 conducted the week before. There are only 221 hospitalised patients in the capital as on Saturday, however, the number is likely to go up as the number of cases does.

The current increase in the number of cases could be linked to the highly mutated and fast-spreading omicron variant, which can significantly evade immunity gained through vaccination.