Delhi logs 43 Covid deaths, highest since 10 June; positivity rate dips to 21.48%
Premium- The national capital has witnessed 12,306 new Covid-19 cases in a span of 24 hours
The national capital on Thursday witnessed 12,306 new Covid-19 cases in a span of 24 hours. The city also saw 43 deaths due to Covid-19, the highest since June 10. Delhi's positivity rate is now at 21.48%.
As many as 396 people have succumbed to the virus in the national capital so far in January.
A total of 57,290 COVID-19 tests were conducted on Wednesday, as against 57,776 on Tuesday, the data showed.
Delhi had logged 35 deaths and 13,785 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 23.86 per cent.
The city had recorded 28,867 COVID-19 cases last Thursday, the sharpest single-day spike since the beginning of the pandemic. The number then declined to 24,383 on Friday, 20,718 on Saturday, 18,286 on Sunday, 12,527 on Monday, and 11,684 on Tuesday.
The positivity rate stood at 30.6 per cent on Saturday, the highest in the ongoing wave of the pandemic so far, 27.9 per cent on Sunday, 28 per cent on Monday and 22.5 per cent on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Centre has informed that 72 per cent of India's adult population is fully vaccinated whereas around 52 per cent of children in the 15-18 years old age group have been inoculated with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
Addressing a press conference here today, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, "Till now, 52 per cent children in the 15-18 age group in the country vaccinated and a proportion of fully vaccinated people is 72 per cent against COVID-19."
He also stated that the country has reported 3,17,532 new COVID-19 cases and 380 deaths in the past 24 hours. With this, the active caseload of India has gone up to 19,24,051, the health secretary said.
In India, Bhushan informed that Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Delhi and Rajasthan are among the top ten states in terms of active cases.
Following these observations of COVID-19 infection in these states, he said that Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh are among the "States of Concern".
"We have sent Central health teams to these States and are continuously reviewing the situation," he added.
Comparing the third surge of COVID-19 with the last surge, Bhushan said, "In the last surge of COVID-19, on 30 April 2021, there were 3,86,452 new cases, 3,059 deaths, and over 31 lakh active cases reported in India."
Speaking about an alarming rise in coronavirus infection cases, the Union Health Secretary asserted that Europe has been contributing around 38 per cent of the total COVID-19 positive cases across the country.
"Asia is showing a sharp surge in global contribution from 7.9 per cent to approximately 18.4 per cent in four weeks, out of which Europe has been contributing around 38 per cent. A sharp surge is also seen in COVID19 cases in India," Bhushan added.
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