Delhi adds 1,245 Covid cases, 1k+ for 3rd straight day

Friday’s case count, the highest in Delhi since it added 1,447 infections on June 24, was marginally higher than 1,128 in Thursday and 1,066 the day before that.

The Capital added more than 1,000 cases of Covid-19 for the third straight day on Friday, with the state government adding 1,245 infections to the city’s tally.

A person being inoculated with a booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine at district hospital Sector 30 , in Noida. (HT Photo)

Friday’s case count, the highest in Delhi since it added 1,447 infections on June 24, was marginally higher than 1,128 in Thursday and 1,066 the day before that.

The Covid-19 test positivity rate on Friday also ticked up, the data showed. Of the 16,924 tests conducted on the day, 7.36% samples returned positive results, as against Thursday, when over 17,000 tests returned a rate 6.56%.

The Capital also reported one death of the infection on Friday, said government data. Since the pandemic broke out in the Capital, 26,308 have died of the disease.

To be sure, this marginal increase in cases has not reflected in the city’s hospitalisation numbers, which have continued to be flat for several months now, highlighting the relatively milder symptoms of the pre-dominant Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Out of 9,409 beds reserved for Covid19 patients in Delhi hospitals, only 257 (2.73%) were occupied, leaving 9,152 beds vacant.

HT had earlier reported that scientists handling the city’s genome sequencing data said that Delhi’s current surge in Covid cases could be attributed to Omicron’s BA.2.75 sub-variant, which is currently the pre-dominant strain being seen in samples. Scientists said that at least 35% of the samples were found positive for the BA.2.75 sub-lineage of Omicron over the last 60 days.

This was followed by BA.2.76 and then by BA.5, scientists said.