NEW DELHI: The national capital on Sunday recorded 3,194 fresh cases of Covid-19 with a positivity rate of 4.59 per cent. The numbers are the highest since May 22.
Along with this, a total of 351 Omicron cases were recorded on Sunday, the second highest in the country after Maharashtra. Out of the 351, 57 patients have been discharged.
According to the health bulletin released by the Delhi government on Sunday, one person has died due to Covid, taking the total number of fatalities to 25,109. On January 1, the city recorded 2,716 fresh cases of Covid- 19, a spike of 51 per cent over December 31.
Going by the Graded Response Action Plan prepared by the government, if the positivity rate is 5 per cent for two consecutive days, a ‘Red’ alert can be sounded. Delhi is just 0.41 per cent away from reaching the red alert phase.
According to a senior official, a call on whether the ‘Red’ alert should be issued or not will be taken in a day or two considering there has been no major uptick in hospitalisation of patients.
“An uptick in hospitalization has not been observed so far that is why we are waiting on what has to be done. We will take a call in a day or two but the citizens still need to follow restrictions to prevent any further increase in numbers,” the official added.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that though the number of cases is rising rapidly, there is “no need to panic”.
Data indicates that the impact of the virus in this phase is far less than what it was in the second wave, he said.
“Only 246 hospital beds were occupied yesterday and all the cases are mild and asymptomatic,” Kejriwal said. The number of oxygen beds occupied is 82.
“The government is prepared with 37,000 beds. I just want to tell you that all new cases are with mild symptoms, asymptomatic, so there is no need to panic,” he added.
A total of 4,759 patients are in home isolation and 307 patients are admitted in hospitals. Out of them, 195 are in a dedicated Covid care center, 150 are mild or asymptomatic patients, 94 are on oxygen support and 4 on ventilator support.
According to the health bulletin, 69,650 tests were conducted on Sunday out of which 59,897 were RT PCR tests, while 9,753 were Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT).
