New Delhi: Even as the Omicron tally rose to 54 in the Capital on Tuesday, three of them without any travel history, Delhi reported 102 fresh Covid-19 cases with one more death from the virus. The daily positivity rate remained at 0.2 per cent on Tuesday even as the city conducted a little over 54,000 — most of which were RT-PCR tests.
Speaking to reporters, Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that there is no need to panic as the Omicron was simply a variant of the Coronavirus and that the protocol for treating and containing it was the same.
The health minister urged the people to follow the rules made to stop the spread of Coronavirus. He urged people to wear masks and follow social distancing for safety in public places. Apart from this, he appealed to the people to get fully vaccinated.
On Sunday, the city had reported 107 cases, its highest daily rise since June 25, and one death with a positivity rate of 0.17 per cent. On June 25, Delhi had logged 115 coronavirus cases and four deaths, according to Delhi government data.
With the fresh COVID-19 cases, Delhi's tally has increased to 14,42,390. Over 14.16 lakh people have recovered from the disease, the department said in a bulletin. The death toll due to COVID-19 stands at 25,102, it said.
Delhi has recorded four deaths due to the viral disease so far in December. Seven deaths were reported in November, four in October and five in September. The city reported 91 cases on Monday at a positivity rate of 0.20 per cent, 107 cases on Sunday at a positivity rate of 0.17 per cent, 86 cases on Saturday and 69 on Friday with a positivity rate of 0.13 per cent and 0.12 per cent, respectively.
The active case count crossed the 500-mark after over four months on Sunday. The national capital last had 513 active cases on August 15. The number of containment zones in the city stands at 173, up from 163 on Monday, the bulletin said. The rise in daily cases comes amid an Omicron scare in Delhi.
With Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announcing that all Covid positive samples will now be sent for genome sequencing, Jain on Tuesday said that there are four government laboratories sequencing samples in the city.
He added that the state-run genome sequencing labs at Lok Nayak Hospital and Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences can sequence more than 100 samples a day.