New Delhi: The COVID-19 positivity rate in the national Capital has slumped in the last one week, dropping from 8.65 per cent on November 26 to 4.96 per cent on December 3, as the city reported 3,734 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, according to official data of the Delhi government.
In this duration, nearly 100 containment zones have been added each day, rising to 5,759 on Thursday.
The latest available figures put the total tally in Delhi at above 5.82 lakh and the death toll at 9,424, with 82 of them being added on Thursday, the Delhi government said.
However, the Capital has set a new benchmark for daily testing, having conducted a record of over 78,000 tests in a day on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the city had conducted a total of over 75,000 tests, of which over 33,200 were RT-PCR tests. This resulted in the city's daily positivity rate finally dropping back to below 5 per cent.
The positivity rate has been steadily dropping since November 26 till date, except on November 29 when it marginally rose to 7.64 per cent compared to 7.24 per cent on November 28, as per the official figures shared by the Delhi health department.
The positivity rate was 8.65 per cent on November 26 when 5,475 fresh cases were recorded, and 8.51 per cent on November 27 when 5,482 cases were reported.
On November 30, the rate again dropped to 7.35 per cent; 6.85 per cent on December 1 and 5 per cent on December 2, as per the data.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday had said the COVID-19 positivity rate in the national capital is falling rapidly and it should drop to below 5 per cent level in the next few days.
However, the number of containment zones has steadily risen in the last one week, from 5,156 on November 26 to 5,772 on December 2.
The count of zones on intervening days were -- 5,229 (November 27), 5,331 (November 28), 5,441 (November 29), 5,552 (November 30) and 5,669 (December 1), according to official data. But containment zones dropped marginally on Thursday from the previous day's count.
When asked about the rise in containment zones, Jain had said, as per the government policy, any place where three or more cases are reported are converted into a containment zone.
"So, this is our effort to contain the spread of the virus and so the numbers are increasing, and thus not a matter of concern," he said, adding, that the rapidly falling positivity rate is a "satisfactory" trend.