People flout COVID-appropriate behaviour as they visit a crowded Sarojini Market in Delhi
Highlights
- Delhi on Friday reported 24,383 fresh Covid cases and 34 deaths.
- Friday's positivity rate is the highest since May 1, when it was 31.61 per cent.
- As many as 815 patients are on oxygen support, including 99 who are on ventilator.
Delhi on Friday reported 24,383 fresh Covid cases and 34 deaths, according to official data. The Test Positivity Rate in the national capital climbed to 30.64 per cent, data suggested.
Though the number of new cases was less than that of Thursday, the positivity rate increased. On Thursday, Delhi had reported 28,867 COVID-19 cases, the sharpest single-day spike since the beginning of the pandemic, and 31 deaths, while the positivity rate stood at 29.21 per cent.
Delhi's previous biggest daily jump of 28,395 cases was recorded on April 20 last year. According to the data, Friday's positivity rate is the highest since May 1, when it was 31.61 per cent. On Wednesday, Delhi had logged 40 deaths, the highest since June 10 last year, when 44 fatalities were recorded. According to the government data, 2,529 patients are in hospitals. As many as 815 patients are on oxygen support, including 99 who are on ventilator
According to the data, the positivity rate is also highest since May 3, when it was 29.6 per cent. Of the 164 Covid deaths recorded in the first 13 days of January, most patients had comorbidities, according to government data.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday that COVID-19 cases are rising fast in the national capital but there is no reason to worry. He emphasised that hospitalisation and death rates are quite low.
He asked people to be responsible and assured them that the government has made all preparations and enough hospital beds are available.
He also said that the restrictions imposed in view of the surge in coronavirus cases will only be tightened if necessary, "but if corona cases begin to decline, we will relax the restrictions."
"Cases are rapidly increasing and there are no two ways about it. We all know that the Omicron variant is quite transmissible and infectious," Kejriwal told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain has been saying that the hospitalisation rate in Delhi has stagnated, which is an indication that the current wave of the pandemic has plateaued. According to him, 75 per cent of the people who died due to coronavirus were unvaccinated and 90 per cent of them had comorbidities.
