85 cases in a day, positivity rate inches up to 0.12% in Delhi

On average, the city has recorded a positivity rate of 0.09% over the last seven days, and added an average of 63 fresh cases each day in that time.

The Capital on Sunday added 85 new cases of Covid-19, and the test positivity rate inched up to 0.12%, as the two numbers hit their highest levels in 25 days, showed the state government’s daily health bulletin.

Positivity rate is a crucial metric as experts say it shows how widespread the virus is in the community. (Photo by Sanchit Khanna/ Hindustan Times) (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

On average, the city has recorded a positivity rate of 0.09% over the last seven days, and added an average of 63 fresh cases each day in that time.

The daily case count and positivity rate were last higher on July 8, when Delhi added 93 new cases, as 0.12% of samples tested positive for the viral infection.

Positivity rate is a crucial metric as experts say it shows how widespread the virus is in the community, and when a dropping positivity rate is coupled with decreasing new cases, it indicates that the spread of the virus is reducing within the community.

As a rule of thumb, tracking a region’s positivity rate serves as a good barometer for whether cases are going to increase or decrease in the coming days: a rising positivity rate generally means cases will rise in the immediate future, while a dropping positivity rate tends to precede a drop in new infections.

The World Health Organisation recommends that the positivity rate from a region that has a comprehensive testing programme should be at or below 5% for at least two weeks before it can be considered that the outbreak is under control. In Delhi, this number has been below the threshold for eight days now.

To be sure, this number in Delhi has been below 1% for 63 days, since May 31, and below 5% for 73.

“This slight increase definitely requires us to stay alert. The second wave has not ended across the country. We are still reporting around 40,000 cases daily. We need to ensure that these small increases in cases do not become a big peak. We need to focus on micro-containment,” said Dr Lalit Kant, former head of the department of epidemiology and infectious disease at Indian Council of Medical Research.

The city also added one more death of the infection on Sunday, taking the city’s toll to 25,054. The city has recorded 1.5 deaths each day over the last seven days, according to the government’s daily health bulletin.