Delhi starts 2022 with over 2,000 new Covid-19 cases, one fresh death

The case positivity rate of Delhi has touched a worrying 3.44%, which the highest since May 21 when it was 4.76%. Meanwhile, containment zones in the national capital also rose to 1,243 on Saturday as against 914 on the preceding day.

Delhi started the new year by recording a huge surge of 2,716 fresh Covid-19 cases, as many as 920 more than yesterday's 1,796, health bulletin data showed. This is the biggest jump in single-day case count in the national capital since May 21 when 3,009 infections were logged amid the second wave of the pandemic. The cumulative tally of the city now stands at 14,50,927.

Delhi's overall Covid-19 tally has climbed to 14,50,927 after more than 2,000 fresh cases on the first day of 2022. (Amal KS/HT Photo)

The case positivity rate of Delhi has touched a worrying 3.44%, which is also the highest since May 21 when it was 4.76%. Notably, the case positivity rate has been consistently witnessing an increase with it being 2.44% on Friday and 1.73% on Thursday.

The national capital also confirmed the first death due to coronavirus in 2022, thereby taking its death toll to 25,108, according to the health bulletin data. Delhi logged as many as nine deaths last month, which was the highest monthly toll in four months.

The only good sign that remains is the rising daily recoveries. On Saturday, Delhi reported a total of 765 new recoveries as opposed to 467 on Friday and 423 on Thursday. The total number of patients recovered from the virus has climbed to 14,19,459.

Owing to rapid growth in single-day cases, containment zones in Delhi has also been seeing sharp rise. On Saturday, the numbers rose to 1,243 as against 914 on the preceding day. The number of occupied beds in hospitals also increased to 247 on the first day of the year from 226 on Friday and 189 on Thursday.

The health bulletin specified that these beds also comprise patients, who are suspect cases of Covid-19. On Friday, the Centre and the ICMR asked all states and Union territories (UTs) to test every individual with fever with/without cough, bodyache, fatigue, recent loss of taste or smell, sore throat, headache and diarrhoea as symptoms. The government also stated that these people should be considered as a suspect case of Covid-19.

Delhi is currently under a yellow alert as part of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in which all educational institutions, cinemas and gyms have been shut down. Furthermore, restaurants, bars, buses and metros have been directed to function at 50% seating capacity. There is also a night curfew between 10pm and 5am.

The spike comes amid the Omicorn outbreak that has so far been detected in more than 20 states and UTs in India. Of the total 1,431 Omicron cases confirmed in the country, Delhi has the second spot with 351 infections, behind Maharashtra's 454.