Covid-19 cases in the national capital are on the rise again, with over 1,000 cases being recorded for three days in a row. Not only have the absolute number of cases gone up, there is also an increase in the positivity rate – proportion of samples tested that are found to be positive, indicative of the spread of an infection – which has gone up to 6.57% over the last seven days, as compared to 4.39% the week before that. Delhi recorded 1,245 new cases and a positivity rate of 7.36% on Friday. The spread of the infection is generally thought to be under control if the positivity rate remains at 5% or less over two weeks. The official figures are unlikely to capture all the cases in the capital as the number of tests has dropped after the third wave in January, with home-based kits becoming readily available. As per Friday’s bulletin, 16,924 tests were conducted. To compare, at the height of the third wave in the second week of January, Delhi had conducted over 91,800 tests a day on average, with the numbers even crossing one lakh. With several states reporting such surges, the Centre had actually asked states to increase awareness so that people who test positive at home also share the information with the government. Along with the number of fresh cases, the active cases or those with a current infection have also increased to 3,844 on Friday, remaining over 3,000 for three days in a row. It was last over 3,000 at the end of June and the beginning of July when the city had seen a slight increase in cases. A similar increase was also seen in April. The number of hospitalisations also crossed the 200-mark to reach 244 on Friday. The number of hospitalisations had last crossed the mark again in June end and July beginning. Experts say that these small ups and downs in the number of cases is likely to continue till the disease becomes seasonal. There have been 47 deaths with the Covid-19 infection this month till July 29, 50 in the month of June, and 35 in the month of May.
