Delhi Registers 6,456 New Covid Cases, 262 Deaths; Positivity Rate Drops to Month's Low of 10.4%

The national capital recorded 6,456 fresh COVID-19 cases and 262 fatalities on Sunday while the positivity rate dropped to 10.40 per cent, the lowest in over a month, according to a Delhi government health bulletin. With this, the total number of cases in the city has risen to 13,93,867 and the death toll to 21,506, it said.

This is the third consecutive day when Delhi has recorded less than 10,000 cases. However, the smaller number of new cases was due to relatively fewer tests, 62,059, conducted on Saturday.

Delhi had reported 6,430 cases on Saturday, the lowest since April 7, with medical experts attributing the lockdown as the main factor behind the dip. Delhi had reported 8,506 cases on Friday, 10,489 on Thursday, 13,287 on Wednesday, 12,481 on Tuesday, 12,651 on Monday and 13,336 on last Sunday.

At 10.40 per cent, Sunday's positivity rate is the lowest since April 11 when it stood at 9.4 per cent, according to government data. The positivity rate was 11.32 per cent on Saturday, 12.4 per cent on Friday, 14.24 per cent on Thursday, 17 per cent on Wednesday, 17.8 per cent on Tuesday, 19.10 per cent on Monday and 21.67 per cent on last Sunday.

The national capital had recorded its highest positivity rate of 36.2 per cent on April 22. Delhi had recorded 337 deaths on Saturday, 289 on Friday, 308 on Thursday, 300 on Wednesday, 347 on Tuesday, 319 on Monday, 273 on last Sunday. The highest number of 448 deaths was reported on May 3.

As many as 62,059 tests, including 45,094 RTPCR/CBNAAT/True Nat tests, were conducted on Saturday, the bulletin stated. A total of 9,706 people recovered from COVID-19 in a day. There are 62,783 active cases in Delhi and 39,211 of them are in home isolation, it said. Over 13.09 lakh people have either recovered, migrated out or have been discharged, it added.

Of the 24,144 hospital beds for coronavirus patients in the city, 7,895 are vacant, the bulletin said. The COVID-19 situation has been improving in Delhi with the number of cases and positivity rate going down steadily over the past few days.

However, earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal extended the ongoing lockdown in the city till May 24, saying the gains made so far in combating the coronavirus cannot be lost due to relaxations now.

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