No Covid deaths in city for first time since Dec 31; fewest cases in 65 days

The city last added no new Covid-19 deaths on December 31 last year, when infections were beginning to pick up, fuelled by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

For the first time this year, Delhi recorded no Covid-19 deaths, a significant landmark for the city as it continues to leave behind the fifth wave of infections.

A health worker collects swab samples for Covid-19 test. (Sakib Ali /HT)

The city last added no new Covid-19 deaths on December 31 last year, when infections were beginning to pick up, fuelled by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Delhi also added 258 cases on Monday, the fewest since December 25, when it added 249 infections. The fresh cases came on the back of just over 36,000 tests, and a test positivity rate of 0.71%, a drop from the 0.95% samples that returned positive a day ago.

The city’s active case count, meanwhile, fell below the 2,000 mark on Monday. The state government’s daily health bulletin showed that 1,845 patients were battling Covid-19 in the Capital as on Monday.

“The death count has been on the lower end in Delhi for some weeks now. If you compare the curve of infections and deaths on a graph, you will see that the death curve is a few weeks behind the infection curve. So, even though the cases in Delhi started falling from January end, it took a few weeks to see a consistent fall in deaths. However, as we have been saying, the Omicron variant was highly infectious but was not as severe. So, the deaths even during the peak of the wave were lower,” said Dr Jugal Kishore, head of the department of community medicine at Safdarjung Hospital.