A healthcare worker takes swab sample for Covid test in New Delhi. (Express file photo by Praveen Khanna)With only 365 fresh cases of Covid-19 reported in Delhi, the positivity rate – proportion of samples that return positive, indicative of the spread of the infection in the community – dropped below 2 per cent for the first time in 40 days. Experts had attributed the increase in cases in April and May to the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, with the majority of cases being reported in Delhi still being that of the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron.
In fact, 63 per cent of the samples sequenced from India over the last 60 days were that of the BA.2 sub-variant which, along with BA.1, led to the country’s third wave in January. Now, India has detected two cases of BA.4 and one case of BA.5 – the two sub-variants that drove South Africa’s fifth wave of cases – in southern states.
The positivity rate peaked at 7.64% during the current surge in Delhi, with the number of cases peaking at 1,656, according to data from the daily health bulletin released by the government. There was also a slight increase in deaths during the current surge, with 26 deaths due to Covid-19 recorded in the month of May so far and 23 in April.
The increase in numbers was also not very sharp. The number of cases increased from just over 100 to 500 in 13 days during the current surge and to 1,000 in another four days. It remained close to 1,000 for a period of six days before increasing slightly to between 1,200 and 1,600 during the next eleven days.
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In comparison, the number of cases increased from just over 100 to around 500 in just eight days during the Omicron-driven surge seen from December end to January. It shot past the 1,000-mark in another two days and way past the 2,000 mark two days later. The number of cases crossed 28,867 during the previous surge. However, hospitalisations had remained low.
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