New Delhi: The number of COVID-19 cases reported in Delhi has reduced significantly in the last one week from over 11,000 cases logged on January 22, but the containment zones count remains over 40,000, according to official data.
A containment zone is created by authorities to check the spread of infection if at least three cases of coronavirus are recorded in a household or in a neighbourhood.
The surge in Covid cases in Delhi during the third wave of the pandemic are due to the Omicron variant of the virus which is highly transmissible.
Many families in a large number of neighbourhoods had tested positive, but medical experts have said that since the infection had
happened at the same time, the recovery too will be quicker for the community as a whole, and there is less chance of more spread of infection as people are largely home isolated with a very little number of patients needing hospitalisation this time.
According to official data shared by the Delhi health department, the number of containment zones in the city stood at 41,095 on Friday, a fall from 42,388 on Thursday. On Saturday it further dropped to 39,869.
The number of containment zones on January 22 was 43,457 when 11,486 Covid cases were recorded.
The number of cases have dropped in the last one week, with over 4,000 cases logged on Friday.
If a household or a neighbourhood is put under a containment zone category, then movement of people in and out of that region is restricted.
District officials had earlier said that emphasis was being laid on mirco containment to arrest the spread of the infection.
While home isolation protocols have undergone a change in the recent past, the containment zone regulations still remain the same, authorities said.
Sources in the district administration authorities in Delhi said the policy to manage containment zones is still the same, meaning, a zone can be put in a de-containment zone only after a 14-day period, to check the spread of infection.
So, number of positive cases may register a fall, but number of containment zones can be expected to show reduction only after passage of that stipulated time, they said.
Meanwhile, Delhi on Saturday reported 4,483 fresh COVID-19 cases, a positivity rate of 7.41 per cent and 28 deaths, according to data shared by the city health department.
The positivity rate recorded on Saturday was the lowest after January 3, when the corresponding figure had stood at 6.46 per cent.
With 4,483 fresh cases logged on Saturday, the national Capital's cumulative case count has increased to 18,23,815 and the death toll to 25,797, the latest health bulletin stated. The number of COVID-19 tests conducted a day ago was 60,532, it said. It took just 10 days for daily cases to drop below the 10,000 mark.
There are 15,428 beds for Covid patients in Delhi hospitals and 1,771 (11.48 per cent) of them are occupied. A total of 1,772 Covid patients are in hospitals, the health department bulletin on Saturday stated.