NEW DELHI: The number of active Covid-19 cases in Delhi has halved in just 12 days after rising to a high of 94,160 on January 13, while it took 21 days for the active caseload to drop by half during the second wave last year.
The third wave of the pandemic saw the active cases peaking to 94,160 on January 13.
The number dropped to 42,010 by Tuesday.
During the ferocious second wave last year, active cases had risen to a high of 99,752 on April 28 and the number reduced to 45,047 by May 19.
Experts said the decline in cases is in line with their expectations.
"It was expected. The rise was very rapid. The R naught value -- which indicates the spread of COVID-19 -- was around 4, which means a person would infect the entire family within two days."
"The recovery is faster. The incubation period is shorter, hardly two to three days. Hence, the sharp fall in the number of cases," said Director-Professor, Community Medicine Department, Maulana Azad Medical College, Nandini Sharma.
Researches suggest that Omicron has an incubation period of roughly three days as compared to the Delta variant which had an average incubation period of about four days.
The original strain of COVID-19 and its early variants had an incubation period of about five days.
The Delhi government data showed there have been fewer hospitalisations due to COVID-19 this time and officials said the virus isn't the primary reason for most fatalities.
A maximum of 2,784 (17.96 per cent) of the 15,505 COVID-19 beds in hospitals were occupied on January 17.
During the second wave, 20,117 (92 per cent) of the 21,839 beds were occupied on May 6.
However, the increase in the number of patients on ventilators has been a cause for concern.
The city hospitals had just 65 patients on ventilator support on January 10.
The number increased to 162 on Tuesday.
The number of daily cases in Delhi has been declining after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13.
The capital had logged 5,760 new cases on Monday and 6,028 cases on Tuesday.
The city saw a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 15, the highest so far in the ongoing wave of the pandemic.
The test positivity rate (TPR) dipped to 10.55 per cent on Tuesday.
Delhi had on Sunday reported 9,197 COVID-19 with a positivity rate of 13.32 per cent.
It took just 10 days for the cases to drop below the 10,000-mark.
The capital on Saturday recorded 45 deaths due to the virus, the highest in the ongoing wave so far.
As many as 574 people have succumbed to Covid-19 in the national capital in January so far.
Amid the decline in cases and the positivity rate, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, Delhi's apex COVID-19 management body, will meet on Thursday to review the pandemic situation in the city.
The meeting to be chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal is scheduled at 12.30 pm.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is likely to attend the meeting that will discuss relaxations which may be allowed in view of improvement in the Covid-19 situation, officials said.
According to sources, the government is also likely to take a call on the reopening of schools from February, depending on the vaccination status of students by the end of this month.
The Delhi government on Friday had proposed lifting the weekend curfew and ending the odd-even scheme for opening shops in view of the pandemic situation but Lieutenant Governor Baijal suggested maintaining the status quo on the restrictions till the situation improved further.
The LG office, however, had approved the government's proposal to allow private offices to function with 50 per cent staff strength, official sources said.
Traders in many parts of the city have been protesting against the restrictions and demanding that the curbs, including those imposed on shops selling non-essential items on alternate days based on the odd-even system, be lifted.
The weekend curfew is implemented at 10 pm on Friday and continues till 5 am on Monday.
The decision to impose weekend curfew was taken by the DDMA on January 1 due to rise in Covid-19 cases in the city.
It had also imposed other restrictions, including closure of all private offices dealing with non-essential services.
Night curfew during weekdays is already in place from 10 pm to 5 am.
Fifty four per cent of Delhiites are in favour of lifting the odd-even restrictions in markets but want the weekend curfew to continue till the positivity rate declines to five per cent, a survey has claimed.
Delhi had seen an uptick in COVID-19 infections, mainly triggered by the Omicron variant, but the cases have seen a decline over the last 10 days.
LocalCircles, a digital community-based platform, asked in its survey, "What should be the criteria to remove current COVID-related restrictions (weekend and night curfew, market odd-even shops, etc.) imposed in Delhi?" In response, 40 per cent people said market odd-even restrictions should be relaxed but night and weekend curfew should continue until the positivity rate dropped to five per cent.
Another 18 per cent people were of the opinion that the restrictions should be eased only when the positivity rate dropped to five per cent.
Fourteen per cent respondents said they wanted the administration to do away with the restrictions only when the positivity rate came down to two per cent while an equal number of people said the government should continue with the existing setup until the positivity rate dipped down to one per cent.
The remaining 14 per cent of the respondents wanted the government to remove all restrictions immediately, the survey claimed.
On average, 54 per cent of Delhi residents supported the removal of odd-even restrictions in markets.
According to the survey, 72 per cent of the participants wanted the administration to the lift the weekend and night curfews only after the test positivity rate hit five per cent.
The survey received 8,661 responses, of which 65 per cent of the respondents were men and the rest women.
Ahead of the crucial meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Thursday, which will see discussions on the removal of restrictions, the Chamber of Trade and Industry, an organisation of traders in Delhi, reached the L-G House on Wednesday and submitted a memorandum stating that they suffered about 70 per cent losses in the last 25 days and requested the lieutenant governor to lift all curbs.
The national capital reported 7,498 fresh COVID-19 cases and 29 deaths in a day as the positivity rate rose marginally to 10.59 per cent, according to the health department's data on Wednesday.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has called the meeting on Thursday to deliberate on easing the curbs in the national capital in view of the improved situation of COVID-19.
The issue of reopening schools is also on the agenda.
Wednesday's health bulletin stated that 11,164 patients were discharged in a day and less than 15 per cent of the Covid beds in hospitals were occupied.
The city had logged 5,760 new Covid cases with a positivity rate of 11.79 per cent and 30 deaths on Monday.
A day later there were 6,028 new Covid cases and 31 deaths with a positivity rate of 10.55 per cent.
The number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching a high of 28,867 on January 13.
The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 15, the highest during the ongoing wave of Covid infections.
It took just 10 days for daily cases to drop below the 10,000-mark.
Delhi had on Sunday reported 9,197 new Covid cases with a positivity rate of 13.32 per cent and 34 deaths.
So far in January, 603 people have succumbed to COVID-19 in the national capital.
However, Health Minister Satyendar Jain and officials have maintained that most patients had comorbidities and Covid was not the primary reason for deaths this time.
As many as 2,137 patients are in hospitals and of them, 725 are on oxygen support.
Out of these 725 patients, 155 are on ventilator support.
A total of 70,804 tests were conducted the previous day, including 56,737 RT-PCR ones.
The number of active cases stands at 38,315, out of which 28733 patients are in home isolation.
The city has 43,662 containment zones.
Delhi has so far reported 18,10,997 COVID-19 cases while 25,710 people have succumbed to the viral disease till now.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi government does not want the livelihood of people to be affected and Covid restrictions will be eased as soon as possible.
Kejriwal claimed there was resentment among some people against Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal for turning down the Delhi government's proposal to lift weekend curfew and odd-even scheme of opening shops given the improving Covid situation.
He, however, urged people not to spread hate on social media.
Delhi had on Saturday recorded 45 deaths due to Covid, the highest since June 5, and 11,486 cases with a positivity rate of 16.36 per cent.
On Friday, the city logged 10,756 cases with a positivity rate of 18.04 per cent and 38 deaths.