256 new Covid cases, highest daily spike since Dec 13

The uptick in Covid-19 cases continued on Thursday with at least 256 new cases being reported -- the highest single-day jump in the month of March so far and also the highest since December 13 when 275 cases were reported

The uptick in Covid-19 cases continued on Thursday with at least 256 new cases being reported -- the highest single-day jump in the month of March so far and also the highest since December 13 when 275 cases were reported. With the health department expecting a further spike in new cases after Holi (Monday), it has decided to step up testing to more than 5,000 a day.

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The health department on Thursday conducted 5,275 Covid-19 tests -- the last time the department had conducted these many tests was in December. “This will be further increased as cases are expected to climb further in the next few days. Overall testing has been increased with the mass antigen testing planned in different parts of the city to check for the prevalence of infection,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

Of the 5,275 tests, at least 524 were rapid antigen tests that were done at various camps in densely populated areas of the city.

The daily positivity rate — proportion of samples testing positive among the total tested — also climbed to nearly 6% on Thursday. On March 22, the positivity rate was 3%, which increased to 5% on March 23 and 4.5% on March 24. The positivity rate has been escalating as testing has been increased, officials said. If the positivity rate remains below the 5% mark consistently for two weeks, experts believe that it is indicative of the Covid spread being under control

To control the positivity rate, increased testing is required to identify cases and isolate them. Data shows that in the past seven days, more than 29,000 tests were done, as compared to 23, 895 tests done in the week before that.

According to the district health bulletin, Gurugram, in the past one year has conducted over 910,528 tests after two waves of Covid-19. In December 2020, due to a dramatic increase in cases, almost 6,000 to 10,000 tests conducted daily. On December 13, a total of 275 Covid cases were reported in a single day, the highest daily spike before this Thursday’s.

Due to resurgence of the infection, the active case count has now reached 1,339, while the total count is 61, 458, according to the district health bulletin. Among the active cases, nearly 93% are home isolated and at least 90 having moderate to severe illness are undergoing treatment in private hospitals. The death count in the district remains at 362.