Gurugram reports lowest daily Covid-19 cases since May 2020

The city on Tuesday reported 35 new Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours, marking the lowest daily tally in seven months. It was in May 2020, during the nationwide

The city on Tuesday reported 35 new Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours, marking the lowest daily tally in seven months. It was in May 2020, during the nationwide lockdown, that the daily case count was lower, with 33 infections being reported on May 26.

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At present, Gurugram has 785 active cases, which has decreased due to the constant decline in cases. The total tally has reached 57,083, with the Covid-19 toll at 344.

Prior to May 26, when 33 cases were recorded, daily infections ranged between six and 17. As transmission started increasing with more number of people contracting the virus, the number of new infections escalated, reaching almost 1,000 cases a day in November.

In the last 10 days, fewer than 100 cases are being reported every day. The test positivity rate — positives out of the total samples — remained between 2% to 2.5% last week, well below the threshold of 5% recommended by the World Health Organisation.

In comparison, the positivity rate in May 2020 was almost 9.4%, which increased to almost 23% in June. It dropped to nearly 5% in July and August and again climbed to 10% in October, and more than 12% in November, and then dipping to 5% in December 2020.

Maintaining the consistent stability in positivity rate — which indicates the spread is slow enough — the health department has reduced the number of Covid-19 tests per day.

On Tuesday, about 2,824 tests were administered, of which only 261 were rapid antigen. Compared to May 2020, when only 200 tests were conducted every day, there has been almost 92% increase in the overall testing. In the initial months of the pandemic, only Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) was being conducted. The rapid antigen testing started in June.

Dr Jai Prakash, district surveillance officer, said, “The active caseload is consistently dropping. Therefore, testing has been reduced but we are continuing with our testing camps to keep a control over the situation.”

With the continuous decline in new daily infections, the recovery rate has exceeded 98%, as per the health department data. Of the 785 active cases, at least 83 are seriously-ill patients admitted to hospitals, while three are in Covid care centres and 699 in home isolation.