NEW DELHI, May 29, 2021 (BSS/PTI) – Delhi on Saturday recorded 956 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest in over two months, and 122 more fatalities from the infection while the positivity rate slumped to 1.19 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here.
This is the first time the cases count has gone below the 1,000-mark since March 22 when the tally was 888. On March 21, 823 cases were recorded.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that about 900 cases in a day have emerged after a long time and “I hope that as and when the cases decrease in the upcoming weeks, we will continue to unlock further. We want the economic activities to come back on track so that the economy can be revived”.
According to the latest health bulletin, 956 fresh cases and 122 fatalities were reported on Saturday, pushing the death toll in the city to 24,073. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain tweeted and shared the health bulletin on Saturday, and emphasised that the daily cases had dropped below the 1,000-mark again, even as he appealed to people to continue to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.
On Thursday, 1,072 cases and 117 deaths were recorded, while the positivity rate had dipped to 1.53 per cent, and on Friday, 1,141 cases and 139 fatalities were reported, while the positivity rate had stood at 1.59 per cent.
The infection rate, which had reached 36 per cent in the last week of April, has come down to 1.19 per cent now.
On May 15, Kejriwal had said, “The virus is reducing in Delhi slowly and steadily, and I hope it diminishes completely and does not rise again. However, we are not going to become negligent in anyway”, while sounding a tone of caution.
On Friday, he said it was time to start the unlock process, but warned that if coronavirus cases start rising again “we will have to stop the unlock exercise”, and appealed to people not to step out unless it is absolutely necessary.
Delhi has been reeling under a brutal second wave of the pandemic that is sweeping the country, claiming a massive number of lives daily, with the recent oxygen supply shortage issue at various hospitals adding to the woes.
Since April 19, both daily cases and single-day deaths count had been spiralling up, with over 28,000 cases and 277 deaths recorded on April 20; rising to 306 fatalities on April 22. On May 2, the city registered a record 407 deaths, according to the official data. However, the number of cases have shown a downward trend and the positivity rate too has been shrinking in the last several days.
The number of deaths reported on Thursday — 117 — was the lowest since April 15 when the national capital had registered 112 fatalities, while the positivity rate (1.52 per cent) was the lowest since March 23, when it had stood at 1.31 per cent, the official data stated.
Delhi had recorded 1,491 cases and 130 fatalities on Wednesday, 1,568 cases and 156 deaths on Tuesday, 1,550 cases and 207 fatalities on Monday.
The positivity rate on Monday was 2.52 per cent, which has come down to 1.59 per cent on Friday.
A total of 80,473 tests, including 56,559 RT-PCR tests and 23,914 rapid antigen tests, were conducted a day ago, according to the health bulletin on Saturday.
The number of cumulative cases on Saturday stood at 14,24,646. Over 13.8 lakh patients have recovered from the virus. The number of active cases decreased to 13,035 on Saturday from 14,581 a day before, the bulletin said.
The number of people under home isolation dipped to 6,303 from 7,111 on Friday while the number of containment zones dropped to 20,805 from 22,701 a day before, it said.