1,061 new cases; 1,200 discharged in one day

New Delhi: Delhi on Monday reported 1,061 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally in the city to over 1.62 lakh, while the death toll from the disease mounted to 4,313, authorities said. Thirteen fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Delhi government's health bulletin.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said the infection rate in the capital is below 10 per cent, when he was questioned by reporters over the surge in coronavirus cases over the last week.

The health bulletin said a total of 11,910 tests were conducted — 3,826 RTPCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 8,084 rapid antigen tests in the last 24 hours, leaving a positivity rate of 8.9 per cent as of Monday.

The number of tests conducted was lower than the average number of 20,000 tests being conducted on a daily basis in the Capital, according to the data. To date, a total of 14,43,004 tests have been conducted while the number of tests per million population stands at 75,947.

The recovery rate is 90.19 per cent, the bulletin said and the total number of COVID-19 cases stands at 1,62,527.

As many as 1,46,588 patients have either recovered, been discharged or have migrated out while the number of active cases stands at 11,626, a minor decline from 11,778, the previous day, the health department said.

The number of patients in home isolation stands at 6,143, while 1,200 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, it added. The number of containment zones stands at 644.

Meanwhile, as the US President on Monday announced that his government had accorded approval for emergency use of convalescent plasma therapy in the country, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "They used to say, back in the day - what America does today, India would do tomorrow. Delhi has changed it. Now - what Delhi did yesterday, America does today. Congratulations Delhiites for achieving this for our country."

The Delhi government had earlier this month said that about 921 recovered patients had donated plasma at the city's first plasma bank till August 11.

Meanwhile, weekly markets reopened in Delhi on Monday after a gap of over 150 days with a number of protective measures against the novel coronavirus such as vendors wearing face masks at all times, space between stalls, sanitiser dispensers and police patrol to check crowding.