Geared up to tackle new Covid strain, says CM Arvind Kejriwal as city witnesses 703 new cases

The new variant, which has 23 known mutation, is thought to spread 70% faster sparking fears of super-spreading events.

Delhi on Tuesday conducted more than 84,000 tests for Covid-19 and reported 703 new cases of the viral infection. This is the fifth consecutive day that Delhi has seen fewer than 1,000 cases, even as Delhi chief minister said that the city was ready to tackle the new variant of the viral infection that originated in the United Kingdom.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. (HT photo)

The new variant, which has 23 known mutation, is thought to spread 70% faster sparking fears of super-spreading events.

“There have been three waves of Covid infections in Delhi. Over 8,000 cases were seen in a day in Delhi, which was the highest in the world. But Delhi was able to control it. We are ready for any situation now,” said Kejriwal.

The city has seen a positivity rate – proportion of samples that return positive among total tested – of around 1% for the last five days as well. The positivity rate had dipped below 5% on December 2, dropping constantly to 0.83% as on Tuesday.

The city also reported 28 deaths due to the viral infection on Wednesday, tipping the death toll over 10,500. So far, 10,502 people have succumbed to the infection in the city. With fewer cases being recorded, an average of about 25 deaths have been reported every day during the last seven days have, driving the seven-day rolling average of case fatality ratio – proportion of deaths among those who test positive – to 3.14%.

The seven day CFR stood at 1.87% at the beginning of the month.

“The new variant of Covid-19 is thought to be more transmissible, so if it reaches the susceptible population – which would probably be around 40% of Delhi’s population – it will spread quickly,” said Dr Shobha Broor, former head of the department of microbiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.