Delhi’s Covid positivity rate below 5% for second day in a row

On Friday, Delhi reported 4,067 new cases of Covid-19 and 73 deaths. So far, the viral infection has affected over 586,000 people in the city and killed at least 9,497, since it was first detected on March 2.

Delhi’s positivity rate – proportion of samples that return positive among total tested – remained below 5% for two days in a row, for the first time since mid-May, before the first surge in the daily number of cases. The daily positivity rate as per Friday’s bulletin stood at 4.78%, which is the lowest in 218 days, since a positivity rate of 2.08% was recorded on April 30.

In April, about 3,600 samples were being tested in a day in comparison to 85,003 samples tested on Thursday, which is the highest number of tests ever conducted in a day in the city so far. (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

In April, about 3,600 samples were being tested in a day in comparison to 85,003 samples tested on Thursday, which is the highest number of tests ever conducted in a day in the city so far.

On Friday, Delhi reported 4,067 new cases of Covid-19 and 73 deaths. So far, the viral infection has affected over 586,000 people in the city and killed at least 9,497, since it was first detected on March 2.

“The positivity has reduced to below 5%. This is a very good sign. The bed occupancy in Delhi has also gone down, over 12,000 beds are vacant. If we look at ICU beds, there are a total of over 5,000 beds and over 2,000 are vacant; meaning over 40% beds are vacant. The situation is slowly improving. I had said earlier that November 7 was the peak of the third wave,” said Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain in a press briefing on Friday.

“Let us see for how long this stays below 5%. If this can be sustained for least a week, then the situation will be comfortable. There has been aggressive testing and contact tracing because of which the positivity rate has reduced from over 15%,” he said.

Experts believe that the spread of the infection has been controlled when a positivity rate of 5% or less is maintained for over two weeks.

“The best way to prevent the infection is to wear a mask, maintain social distancing, and wash hands regularly. The waves of infection are likely to continue just as we had seen during the 1918 Spanish flu. This happens as people get fatigued with following precautions,” said Dr Vikas Maurya, head of the department of pulmonology at Fortis hospital, Shalimar Bagh.