NEW DELHI: The gradual reduction in the number of new COVID-19 cases and the positivity rate is a "clear indicator" that the spread of the virus is decreasing in the national capital, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Friday.
The minister announced that government rates would apply for the normal, non-ICU beds reserved in private hospitals by the Delhi government for COVID-19 patients.
"The positivity rate was 15.26 per cent on November 7. It is less than 11 per cent now. The maximum number of cases (8,593) were reported on November 10," Jain said.
"The positivity rate has come down and the number of cases is also reducing gradually. It is a clear indicator that the spread of the virus is decreasing in Delhi," he told reporters. The average death rate across the country is 1.48 per cent, and in Delhi, it is 1.57 per cent, Jain said, adding that it was around 3.50 per cent in June.
There is no harm in wearing a face mask inside a car, the minister said, appealing to the people of the city to ensure that they don't step outside without wearing one.
Jain said 2,644 normal beds and 260 ICU beds "extra" would be made available for COVID-19 patients in private hospitals after the government issued directions in this regard on Thursday.
The national capital reported 7,456 coronavirus cases on Thursday and the positivity rate was at 12.09 percent.
The AAP government on Thursday announced sweeping measures, including a steep Rs 2,000 fine for not wearing masks, reservation of 80 per cent ICU beds in private hospitals, doubling testing centres in every district and postponement of non-critical surgeries at health facilities.
Private hospitals have also been directed to increase the percentage of non-ICU COVID-19 beds from 50 per cent to 60 per cent.
The government also said it will increase the number of RT-PCR test to 27,000 a day in the national capital and MBBS students and interns will be engaged to tackle the COVID-19 situation.
A door-to-door survey for identifying and testing people symptomatic for COVID-19 in containment and densely packed areas of the city commenced on Friday.
The survey will be completed within five days and will cover over 57 lakh people in containment zones, dense areas and identified clusters of virus transmission, officials said.
Jain told reporters that the survey is aimed at identifying and testing symptomatic people living in containment zones and densely packed areas.
District officials said all the containment zones and super spreader areas are being covered through teams including teachers, municipal corporation staff, Asha workers and civil defence volunteers.
"All protocols will be followed to test all symptomatic persons. The survey will be completed within 5 days," said a district magistrate.
There are currently over 4500 containment zones in Delhi.
Following a meeting between Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, it was decided that the survey in the city will be conducted by teams of AIIMS, Delhi government and municipal corporations, and all the symptomatic people found in the survey would be tested and provided necessary treatment.
Around 9500 surveillance teams have been constituted and deployed for conducting a door-to-door survey.
Each team has a target to survey 50 households every day, officials added.