Delhi records 1,558 new Covid-19 cases, highest in over 3 months

On Friday, the national capital reported 1,534 Covid-19 cases, 971 recoveries, and nine deaths. The city saw 1,515 cases on Thursday, 1,254 on Wednesday and 1,101 on Tuesday—continuously reporting more than 1,000 daily new cases.

Delhi reported 1,558 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the highest in more than three months, and 10 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to a bulletin issued by the health department on Saturday. With this, the Capital’s infection tally surged to 655,834, including 6,625 active cases and 638,212 recoveries and 10,997 deaths.

A healthcare worker collects the swab sample for Covid-19 testing from a person at India Gate in New Delhi. (ANI Photo)

The Capital reported its biggest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases on December 16 when 1,547 infections were reported. On Friday, the national capital reported 1,534 Covid-19 cases, 971 recoveries, and nine deaths. The city saw 1,515 cases on Thursday, 1,254 on Wednesday and 1,101 on Tuesday—continuously reporting more than 1,000 daily new cases.

As the Covid-19 cases continued to rise in Delhi, health minister Satyendar Jain said on Saturday that lockdown was not a plausible solution to deal with the rising coronavirus infections. "There is no possibility of lockdown. There has already been a lockdown and there was a logic behind it. At that time, no one knew how the virus spreads. It was then said that there is a 14-day cycle from being infected to ending the infection. Then the expert said that if all the activities are locked for 21 days, the virus will stop spreading. Even then the lockdown kept extending but despite this, the coronavirus spread did not stop. I think lockdown is not a solution," Jain said.

"There were fewer cases earlier but it has increased now. So we have increased the number of tests and conducted 85,000-90,000 tests every day, which is more than 5 per cent of the national average. We are also doing contact tracing and isolation," he added.

Jain also stressed the need to follow rules with respect to wearing face masks and social distancing, in order to curb the spread of the viral infection. "People wore masks for two or three months... then they stopped. This is wrong. We don't know how the virus behaves. I appeal to the people.. the more people who wear masks, the better the spread of the virus can be controlled," he said.