Delhi reports 11,486 fresh Covid-19 cases, positivity rate drops marginally to 16.36%

So far, 479 people have died due to the infection in Delhi this month. This is the highest monthly toll since June when 740 deaths were reported. There were only nine deaths in the entire month of December, seven in November, four in October, and five in September.

Almost all of the deaths reported during the third wave are of people who had co-morbidities. Data from the Delhi government shows that a high percentage of the people who died were unvaccinated.

On Friday, Delhi had reported over 10,700 cases.

As many as 70,226 tests were conducted on Saturday, of which over 80% were RT-PCR tests or the ones conducted using other molecular methods. This is the highest number of tests conducted in Delhi in the last eight days.

The number of samples collected in Delhi reduced sharply after the new guidelines by the Indian Council of Medical Research on January 10 stated that asymptomatic people do not need to get tested. The guidelines also stated that only high-risk contacts of positive cases were to be tested.

The number of tests fell to a low of 44,762 on January 17. However, the number started going up again after the government was asked to continue testing samples collected from local communities.

The number of active cases has dropped to 58,593 now. Out of them, 2,504 are in hospitals, with 160 people on ventilators.

Meanwhile, with the positivity rate declining, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority has allowed private offices to work with 50% capacity. However, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Friday rejected the government’s proposal to lift the weekend curfew and ease other restrictions such as a directive for shops to open on alternate days.