Covid cases touch a new high of 5,739 in Delhi again | Latest News Delhi - Hindustan Times
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Covid cases touch a new high of 5,739 in Delhi again

By, New Delhi
Oct 29, 2020 11:58 PM IST

The graph of coronavirus (Covid-19) disease in Delhi continued to climb, with the city registering 5,739 new cases in a day — a record high again — on Thursday.

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Reporting a record number of new cases for the third day in a row, Delhi’s tally of Covid-19 cases now stands at 375,753, which includes 338,378 recoveries and 6,423 deaths. On Wednesday the city had added 5,673 new cases of the viral infection, after reporting 4,853 new cases a day earlier on Tuesday.

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On average, Delhi has now reported 4,491 cases every day in the past week, which means the trajectory has now surpassed the previous peak of 4,174, which was reported for the week ending September 17, at the height of the second surge.

The positivity rate, which went past 9% on Wednesday for the first time since early September, increased further to 9.55% on Thursday.

Delhi had seen the first surge in cases in June — the week ending June 26 — when 3,446 cases were reported in a day at its peak..

Dr Lalit Kant, former head of epidemiology and infectious disease at ICMR said the government now needs to stay focused on keeping up with the testing numbers and spread mass awareness on wearing masks and wearing them the right way.

“Delhi’s current situation is a culmination of many things — temperatures have come down making the environment more conducive for the virus, the festive season because of which there is probably the highest interaction between people that the city has ever seen since the advent of the virus in March .And then there is air pollution, because of which many are already suffering from flu-like symptoms. So, people should be advised to stay at home as far as possible,” he said.

Earlier this week, NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul had said in a press briefing that Delhi is inching towards its third peak.

On Thursday, state health minister Satyendar Jain too said it “appears that Delhi is heading towards a third wave”, but said there would be clarity on this only by next week.

“The trend of Covid cases is on a decline across the country. However, it has remained a matter of worry in three states and Union territories. Delhi is inching towards its third peak, while an unprecedented rise is being witnessed in Kerala and West Bengal,” Dr Paul had said on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the government conducted 60,124 tests of which 17,029 were through reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), considered the most reliable Covid-19 testing method so far. It was on Sunday when Delhi had for the first time conducted over 17,000 RT-PCR tests.

Testing in the city was scaled up from September onward but most diagnoses were conducted using the rapid antigen method, which gives results in 15 minutes, but is more likely to throw up false negatives.

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