Covid positivity rate in Delhi creeps past 10% as testing drops, 97% hospital beds still free

The Covid-19 test positivity rate in Delhi crept past 10% on Monday for the first time since end-January this year on the back of a dip in the number of collected samples, showed data released by the state government

The Covid-19 test positivity rate in Delhi crept past 10% on Monday for the first time since end-January this year on the back of a dip in the number of collected samples, showed data released by the state government.

Delhi's positivity rate rises above 10 per cent (AP PHOTO.)

However, hospitalisations of the infection continue to remain minimal, and most beds in reserved facilities were vacant on Monday, reaffirming the milder nature of infections caused by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus that’s dominant in Delhi at the moment.

Delhi added 1,060 infections on Monday, down from 1,530 cases on Sunday, a fall that came on the back of a sharp dip in testing, a usual feature over the weekend.

The case spike came after 10,506 tests were conducted on Sunday, with 10.09% samples returning positive results, the highest this number has been since January 26 this year. On that day, 10.59% of the tested samples returned positive results, according to the state bulletin.

In comparison, 17,908 tests were conducted in the Capital on Sunday.

Still, nearly 97.5% of Delhi’s 9,506 hospital beds kept aside for Covid-19 patients were vacant on Monday.

Six people also died of the infection on Monday, according to the bulletin.

Senior officials of the Delhi government’s health department said that the high numbers on Monday were most likely an “aberration” and people should not panic unless the numbers show a similar trend in the next few days.

“We are not denying that the Covid spread is on a rise but this is not a time to panic. We are monitoring the cases closely and we are taking all the measures to control the spread,” said a health official.

Dr Subhash Giri, medical director, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, said 12 Covid-19 patients were admitted to their facility and most of these patients who have required hospital care comprised either senior citizens or people with pre-existing comorbidities. He also said that primarily patients were coming in with symptoms such as fever, sore throat, stuffy nose and weakness. These symptoms, he said, were being experienced for 3-4 days.

“While patients coming into our hospital and to our fever clinics are rising but the share of patients who are requiring hospital admissions with only Covid is very less. In our hospital, in the month of June, we only had two to three patients who were admitted solely for Covid. We are seeing that majority of the patients are recovering in home isolation. That said, I would urge people to get vaccinated, wear masks and practice social distancing and other Covid-appropriate behaviour to avoid getting infected,” said Dr Giri.