Delhi's daily Covid tally goes up again with 1,819 new cases; toll at 11,027

Nearly 400 people were discharged while 11 more succumbed to the disease on Wednesday. The recoveries and death toll in the national Capital have now climbed to 642,565 and 11,027, the health department's bulletin showed.

Delhi’s daily tally of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) went up again on Wednesday with 1,819 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload to 662,430, according to the health department’s bulletin. The new cases are 827 more than that of Tuesday’s when 992 people had tested positive for the disease.

A motorist passes by a mural of frontline workers against coronavirus at RK Puram in New Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT file photo)

However, Wednesday’s tally is 85 cases less than that of Monday’s- when 1,904 new cases were seen, the highest in more than three months.

Nearly 400 people were discharged while 11 more succumbed to the disease on Wednesday. The recoveries and death toll in the national Capital have now climbed to 642,565 and 11,027, the bulletin showed. The total active cases are at 8,838.

Even though cases in Delhi have been rising since late February, health minister Satyendar Jain on March 27 ruled out the possibility of another lockdown by saying it is not a solution to curb the spread of the disease. The Union health ministry, meanwhile, pointed out on Tuesday that Delhi along with Mumbai, Bengaluru Urban etc has the most number of active cases in the country.

A total of 67,070 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours of which 36,808 were RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TruNat tests while the remaining 30,262 were rapid antigen tests, the bulletin added. Tuesday’s testing numbers were low due to a public holiday on the occasion of Holi on Monday.

With a view to test more people in Delhi for the Covid disease, Jain said that the Delhi government will conduct up to 80,000 tests per day starting from Wednesday.

This announcement of the health minister comes just a day after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday that the government will increase the number of normal and intensive care unit (ICU) beds reserved for the infected patients.

“This will improve bed availability. We are keeping close watch and will take all steps necessary. There is nothing to worry. But please follow all precautions,” Kejriwal tweeted.