The drop in COVID-19 cases in the city continued on Tuesday with the test positivity rate (TPR) falling to 4.73% from 5.09% a day earlier, according to a Delhi government bulletin.
The TPR had peaked to 30.64% on January 14 and 15 and has been on the decline since.
The number of new COVID-19 cases over 24 hours increased to 3,028 from 2,683 on Tuesday, mainly due to an increase in the number of tests, which stood at 63,982, about 21% higher than Monday when 52,736 tests were conducted.
Twenty-seven new deaths were reported, taking the total to 25,919, as per the bulletin. Of the total 15,426 hospital beds for COVID-19, 90.9% remain unoccupied.
Since COVID cases are declining across the country, the Delhi government's ‘Mukhya Mantri Tirth Yatra Yojna’ — facilitating free pilgrimage for senior citizens — is likely to resume from mid February, officials said on Wednesday. The scheme was halted in January amid rise in the COVID cases.
Genome sequencing
Genome sequencing of samples of COVID-19-related deaths in January by the government has shown that 90 out of 91 cases, whose results are out, were infected with the Omicron variant and one only case was of Delta variant, an official told The Hindu.
Also, BA.2, a sub-variant of the Omicron variant, was found in over 90% of the 90 deaths, the official said. BA.2 is more prevalent in India now as opposed to BA.1 being more dominant initially.
“The death audit committee will look into how many of these deaths can be attributed just to COVID. Many deaths are due to other diseases,” the official said.
