NEW DELHI: The national capital witnessed a decline in the number of Covid cases on Saturday with a stagnant positivity rate, hospitalisation rate, and fewer deaths as compared to Friday.
The city recorded a decline in cases for the second consecutive day. A total of 28,867 cases were reported on January 13 which had come down to 24,383 cases on January 14.
According to the health bulletin, Delhi logged 20,718 fresh Covid cases with a positivity rate of 30.64% followed by 30 fatalities on Saturday.
On January 14, Delhi had reported 24,383 Covid cases with a similar positivity rate as of Saturday, at 30%. However, 34 deaths were reported.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday had shared his expectation on Covid cases getting reduced by 4,000 in the city with a positivity rate of approximately 30%. He further said that the hospitalisation rate had also been stagnant for four to five days.
Meanwhile, hospital occupancy on January 14 was 16.34%, while it inched to 16.91% on Saturday. Jain while addressing the media said, “The peak of the wave has arrived. Let’s see when the decline begins. It seems like cases have begun to slow down.” Last week, Jain had also said that if the situation of stagnant hospitalisation rate and declining number of positive cases persisted, the government would reduce the restrictions considering the Covid scare in the city.
The minister said, “I hope that the spread of the virus tops out as soon as possible so that cases in Delhi and the country come down and the outbreak is eradicated.”
In terms of deaths caused by Corona, Jain stated that there were very few cases among patients admitted to ICU in hospitals who had been admitted due to Covid infections.
This apart, while answering questions about tests for detecting Covid, the minister said, “According to new ICMR guidelines, if you do not have any symptoms of Covid, is under the age of 60, and do not have any comorbidity, you do not need to be tested.”
A recent analysis of 97 deaths that occurred between January 9 and January 12 showed that most of the patients had comorbidities. Seventy of them were not vaccinated and 62 were aged below 60.
Jain had on Thursday said the number of hospital admissions had plateaued which indicated that the ongoing wave might have peaked and the cases might go down soon.
‘Peak of the current wave is here’
Health Minister Satyendar Jain while addressing the media said, “The peak of the wave has arrived. Let’s see when the decline begins. It seems like cases have begun to slow down.” Last week, Jain had also said that if the situation of stagnant hospitalisation rate and declining number of positive cases persisted, the government would reduce the restrictions considering the Covid scare in the city. The minister said, “I hope that the spread of the virus stops as soon as possible so that coronavirus cases come down and the outbreak is eradicated.”