NEW DELHI: Delhi logged 1,042 fresh COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 4.64 per cent while two persons died due to the infection, according to data shared by the city health department on Friday. A total of 22,442 tests were conducted in the city a day ago, the data showed.
The cumulative caseload in the national capital stands at 18,72,699 while the death toll is 26,164. Delhi had reported one death and 965 COVID cases with a positivity rate of 4.71 per cent on Thursday. It had logged one death and 1,009 COVID cases on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 5.7 per cent.
On Tuesday, Delhi had reported 632 cases with a positivity rate of 4.42 per cent. A day before, the city reported 501 cases with a positivity rate of 7.72 per cent. With the national capital seeing a spurt in COVID-19 cases in the past few days, the number of active cases has increased to 3,253 from 601 on April 11.
However, the hospitalisation rate has so far been low, accounting for less than three per cent of the total active cases, according to data. There are 58 COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals in Delhi at present, while 2,173 are recuperating in home isolation.
Of the 9,705 beds available for COVID patients in various hospitals, just 94 (0.97 per cent) are occupied. In the wake of rising cases, the Delhi government on Friday issued an order directing authorities to impose a fine of Rs 500 on people not wearing masks in public places.
However, the fine will not apply to people travelling together in private four-wheelers, it said. The government had lifted the fine for not wearing a mask on April 12 because of the decline in cases.
The decision to bring back the mask mandate in public places and impose a fine of Rs 500 on violators came at a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), which devises Covid management policies for the national capital, on Wednesday.
The city health department said on Thursday Delhi has started providing free COVID-19 precautionary doses to beneficiaries in the 18-59 age group at government vaccination centres. Delhi has also started genome sequencing of samples of all COVID infected people to ascertain if a new variant, such as the XE, has spread in the city.