New Delhi:
Delhi registered 3,419 new coronavirus cases, taking the infection tally to over 5.8 lakh on Saturday, while the toll rose to 9,574 with 77 more deaths, according to a health bulletin. The new cases came out of a record 81,473 tests, including 35,352 RT-PCR tests. The positivity rate slipped to 4.2 per cent from 4.78 per cent the previous day, the Health Department said.
The number of active patients dropped to 26,678 from 28,252 a day ago, while the total cases rose to 5,89,544. Seventy-seven more people died from the pathogen, taking the toll to 9,574, it said. As many as 5.53 lakh patients have recovered, taking the recovery rate to over 93 per cent. The number of tests per million is over 3.5 lakh, while the total tests rose to over 66 lakh, the bulletin said.
Out of 18,843 beds in COVID hospitals, 12,385 are vacant, while 639 beds in COVID care centres are occupied by persons under quarantine. The number of people in home isolation dropped to 16,231, it said. The containment zones jumped to 6,045 from 5,909 on Friday. On Saturday, it was the third consecutive day when the positivity rate remained between 4-5 per cent.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said on Friday if the positivity rate stayed below four per cent for five consecutive days, it would indicate that in Delhi had “successfully combated” the pandemic. The National Centre for Disease Control had recently warned that Delhi needed to be prepared for about 15,000 new COVID-19 cases everyday due to the upcoming winter season-related respiratory problems, large influx of patients from outside and festive gatherings.
