628 cases, 3 deaths; positivity at 8.06%

New Delhi: Delhi reported 628 new Covid cases and three more deaths due to the infection on Monday, while the positivity rate stood at 8.06 percent, according to data shared by the city health department here.

The fresh cases were detected out of 7,793 Covid tests conducted the previous day.

Delhi's Covid case tally has reached 19,32,026 while the death toll stands at 26,256.

The department had not issued a health bulletin on Sunday. On Saturday, the city saw six deaths due to COVID-19 while the positivity rate stood at 7.8 per cent.

On Friday, the city logged 1,447 Covid cases and one death, while the positivity rate was 5.98 per cent. Delhi had recorded 1,934 Covid cases and zero death on Thursday, while the positivity rate was 8.10 per cent. Of the 9,497 beds in city hospitals, only 299 are occupied, up from 291 two days ago, while the beds at the Covid care centres and the Covid health centres are lying vacant, the department said. With a surge in Covid infections in Delhi lately, hospitals have also been witnessing a slight increase in admissions, but most of

these patients, doctors say, have co-morbid conditions. There are 4,553 active COVID-19 cases in the Capital. Of them,

3,636 patients are under home isolation. The city has 389

Covid containment zones.

Meanwhile, the BA.5 sub-variant of Omicron has been found in some samples collected from central, south and southeast Delhi between May and June 16, official sources said on Monday.

The findings were discussed at a meeting on June 17 by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium), which reviewed the COVID-19 data to check the possibility of any new emerging variant or sub-variant and ascertain the reasons behind the breakthrough infections. Almost five per cent of the samples genome sequenced from central and south east Delhi tested positive for the BA.5 sub-variant and nearly two per cent samples from south

Delhi showed its presence. Most of the samples were found to have the BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron. with pti inputs