320 new cases in Delhi, 4 deaths

New Delhi: Delhi recorded 320 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths due to the disease on Tuesday, breaching the 300-mark again after a gap of two days, according to the data shared by the city health department. The new cases came from 66,744 tests, including 40,885 RT-PCR tests and 25,859 rapid antigen tests conducted the previous day, according to the latest health bulletin.

The number of active cases rose to 1,812 on Tuesday from 1,730 on Monday. Four new deaths took the toll to 10,928, it said. The positivity rate fell slightly to 0.48 per cent from 0.50 per cent a day before.

A total of 585 new cases were reported on January 1 and 384 on January 4. It had dropped to 306 on January 11 and risen again to 386 on January 12, according to official figures.

The numbers had started to come down the next month, and on February 26, 256 cases were recorded, the highest daily count in February.

However, since early March, cases were again seen on the rise.

Health experts and doctors have attributed this "sudden rise" in the number of cases to complacency among people, not following COVID-19-appropriate behaviour and "assuming all is well now".

Meanwhile, over 34,000 beneficiaries received shots of the COVID-19 vaccine in the national Capital on Tuesday, including 17,368 senior citizens, as per official data.

In the 45-59 years age group, 2,833 beneficiaries received the jabs, a senior official said.

On Monday, 35,738 people were administered the vaccine, the highest so far since the start of the exercise on January 16, according to official data.

On Tuesday, a total of 34,239 beneficiaries got the jabs, the senior official said.

Senior BJP leader J P Nadda tweeted that he received his first shot of the vaccine on Tuesday and shared pictures of him getting the jab.