Delhi adds just 59 new cases of Covid, fewest in a day since April 15 last year

The Capital also logged two more deaths of the infection, showed Monday’s health bulletin, the fewest fatalities in a day since March 21 this year, when just one person succumbed to the viral infection. The city has now added an average of six daily deaths over the past week.

The national capital on Monday added 59 new cases of Covid-19, as infections continue to plummet to levels not seen since the initial phase of the pandemic in April last year, while latest deaths due to the disease also fell to a 100-day low, showed the state government’s health bulletin.

The seven-day average of cases, also known as case trajectory, fell to 100 on Monday. (Biplov Bhuyan / HT file photo)

As daily infections dropped, the Covid-19 test positivity rate on Monday fell to 0.10% —the lowest ever in Delhi.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a positivity rate below 5% for at least a two-week period for an outbreak to be considered under control in a region. The positivity rate in Delhi has been below this threshold for 39 days. Of these, it has spent the last 29 days below the 1% mark.

This number stayed below 1% for 82 days during the lull in cases, between December last year and March this year, after the November wave.

The Capital also logged two more deaths of the infection, showed Monday’s health bulletin, the fewest fatalities in a day since March 21 this year, when just one person succumbed to the viral infection. The city has now added an average of six daily deaths over the past week.

Dr T Jacob John, former head of the department of virology at Christian Medical College-Vellore, said, “Delhi has almost reached the endemic levels as majority of the population seems to have been exposed to Covid-19 already. A sero survey result at this point will help a lot to decide the course of action for the coming months. Also, at no point should mask wearing be taken lightly and vaccination should be accelerated,” he said.

Delhi last added fewer than 59 cases 440 days ago — on April 15, 2020, the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak in the national capital, and three weeks after the Union government put in place a hard lockdown across the country to stem the spread of the illness. Further, Covid-19 testing infrastructure was in a nascent stage at that point and far fewer tests were conducted in a day than they are now.

The seven-day average of cases, also known as case trajectory, fell to 100 on Monday. This number has now dropped for 59 days in a row and is now at its lowest since end-April last year. Delhi added an average of 96 new cases a day in the seven-days ending April 22, 2020.

Delhi administered 204,586 doses of Covid vaccines till 10.30pm on Monday -- just short of the record 207,000 doses given on Saturday. However, only 9,563 persons were inoculated on Sunday.

On Sunday, AAP MLA Atishi said the Delhi government has informed the Centre that the city needs 4.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in July to keep up the current vaccination rate of 1.5 lakh jabs daily.

According to Atishi, 25% of Delhi’s population in the 18-45 age group has received at least one dose of vaccine. At least 9.2 million people in this age group are eligible for vaccination in the city.