Capital sees 1,575 cases, lowest in over 3 months; active cases drop to 18,753

New Delhi: The national Capital recorded 1,575 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the lowest in over three months, even as the positivity rate dipped to below 3 per cent, authorities said.

The positivity rate on December 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 had successively dipped to 4.96 per cent, 4.78 per cent, 4.2 per cent, 3.68 per cent and 3.15 per cent respectively. However, on December 8, it had risen again to 4.23 per cent, falling again to 3.42 per cent on December 9.

These relatively low number of new cases on Thursday came out of 64,069 tests conducted the previous day, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.

Sixty-one fatalities were recorded, pushing the toll in the national capital to 9,874 while the positivity rate dropped to 2.46 per cent, the bulletin said, adding that the average death rate of the past ten days stood at 2.27 per cent.

The fall in daily cases here is significant, as it is the lowest since August 31, when 1,358 fresh incidences were recorded.

The tally of active cases on Thursday dropped to 18,753 from 20,546 the previous day.

The bulletin said that the total number of cases has climbed to 6,01,150.

As the positivity rate slipped to 3.42 per cent, Jain had on Wednesday tweeted that it was heartening to see that the national capital is "emerging victorious" in the battle against the coronavirus.

"Cases are falling, and death count in a day is lowest in the last 40 days. The situation has improved, and we can definitely say the third wave of the pandemic here is on the wane. It is not over, but on the wane," he told reporters on Thursday.

On plans of COVID-19 vaccination, he said, healthcare workers and frontline staff will be administered the vaccine first, followed by the elderly and then others. "If we have vaccine availability, we can vaccinate the entire population in a week's time, we have the preparations ready," he added.

Asked about non-COVID-19 patients needing ICU beds, he said, "We will review the situation. But ICU beds can't be managed overnight, if cases suddenly increase, so we had to see the trend stabilise first".

He asserted that over 13,000 beds are available for COVID-19 patients in Delhi, which is "not there in any city of the country", adding that 2,500 ICU beds are also available for them. Asked how many people have registered for the COVID-19 vaccine, he said, about two lakh till Wednesday.

He reiterated that the overall positivity rate is less than 5 per cent for the last seven days.

Also, RT-PCR positivity rate is now down to 6 per cent, and since early November, a fall of about 80 per cent in positivity rate, which is a satisfactory trend, Jain said.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government-run LNJP hospital has successfully treated over 10,000 patients since it was declared a dedicated coronavirus facility, city Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday and hailed the team of the facility for the services rendered.