Delhi sees highest Covid-19 cases this year, tally inches close to 7 lakh-mark

On Wednesday, the national capital saw 20 more people succumbing to the viral contagion, taking the death toll to 11,133, according to the health department.

Recording the sharpest surge this year, Delhi on Wednesday recorded 5,506 cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), pushing the infection tally to 6,90,568, the health bulletin released by authorities said.

Heavy rush of shoppers at a weekly market with some people not wearing face masks, in Pandav Nagar, New Delhi, India, on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. (Photo by Raj K Raj/ Hindustan Times)

On Wednesday, the national capital saw 20 more people succumbing to the viral contagion, taking the death toll to 11,133, according to the health department.

This is the second consecutive day when Delhi has seen a rise of over 5,000 cases. The city had reported 5,100 fresh cases on Tuesday.

The positivity rate shot past the 5% mark recorded this month and jumped to 6.1 per cent on Wednesday, officials said.

Insisting on increased testing and tracing strategy, the health authorities conducted a total of 90,202 tests, including 52,477 RT-PCR tests and 37,724 rapid antigen tests on Wednesday. Additionally, a total of more than 6.59 lakh patients have recovered from the virus.

The number of active cases in Delhi stands at 19,455.

The number of people under home isolation increased to 10,048 on Wednesday from 8,871 on Tuesday, while the number of containment zones surged to 3,708 from 3,291 the day before.

The national capital has recorded a fresh surge in cases as confirmed by the Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal who had said that the city-state is witnessing the fourth wave of infections, even as the rest of the country is reeling from the second wave.

“For the rest of the country, one may call it the second wave. But for Delhi, this is the fourth wave. We are heading towards the fourth peak. This wave is witnessing an exponential increase in cases and spreading very fast. It is concerning but there is nothing to panic because this wave is also less severe in terms of number of deaths and cases that require hospitalisation, admission to ICU, etc,” Kejriwal said at a digital news briefing.

Delhi witnessed its first wave in June, followed by the second in September and the third wave in November, which has been the worst so far, with the highest case tally of 8,593.