Delhi reports over 800 Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours, highest daily spike this year

The coronavirus tally in Delhi has gone up to 647,161 and a total of 10,955 fatalities due to the disease have been recorded so far.

Delhi has been witnessing a steady increase in cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) through the week, and on Saturday it broke all records of this year by registering 813 fresh cases of the infection, according to latest figures released in the health bulletin.

A health worker collects a swab sample for coronavirus testing at Anand Vihar Bus Terminal, in New Delhi, India. (HT Photo)

Two people died of the viral disease in the last 24 hours, according to the health bulletin.

With the massive one-day jump in cases, the city’s positivity rate stands at 1.07% while the cumulative positivity rate is at 4.71%.

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The infection tally in the national capital has gone up to 647,161 and a total of 10,955 fatalities due to the disease have been recorded so far. Of the total cases, 3,409 are active. As many 632,797 people have recovered from Covid-19 so far with 567 recoveries recorded between Friday and Saturday.

From March 1 till March 11, the new cases in the city were witnessing an upward trend but ranged between 150 and 370. However, the cases recorded in a single day on March 12 rose to 409 and has since remained above that except on March 14 (407) and March 16 (368). On March 17, 18 and 19 the daily new cases soared to 536, 607 and 716 respectively.

A central government panel has attributed the grim figures to superspreader events like weddings. “We must understand that there is still a large section of population that is vulnerable, especially in villages. We cannot afford to lower our guard at this stage, and should avoid mass gatherings as it can become superspreading events,” said Dr VK Paul, member (health), Niti Aayog.

Delhi is also among the eight states contributing most to the nation’s daily Covid-19 count. Other states showing rising trajectory of daily new cases are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal led-Aam Aadmi party government said it is ready to vaccinate all adults in the city against the coronavirus disease. Kejriwal has appealed to the Centre to make vaccines open for all who are 18 years of age and above. “Walk-in centres should be opened for all. I urge the central government to take this up on a war footing. If this is allowed, we can vaccinate everyone in Delhi (18 years and above) in three months,” he said earlier this week.