Active cases up by 190% in a month; Jain says positivity rate going down

New Delhi: The number of active COVID-19 cases in Delhi increased by around 190 percent in a month with 84,087 people contracting the disease during the period, according to government data. There were 11,068 active COVID-19 cases on August 18. The number increased to a record 32,250 on Friday, an analysis of Delhi government's health bulletins showed.

A similar trend was witnessed in June, when the number of active COVID-19 cases rose from 11,555 on June 1 to 28,329 on June 27. It, however, tapered off to 10,705 active cases by July 31.

On August 4, it dropped below the 10,000-mark for the first time since May 30 and stood at 9,897, owing to a good recovery rate and less new cases.

But just when it seemed the number might drop further, it started rising again with an increase in new cases.

The city reported 14,040 active COVID-19 cases on August 29. The number increased to 15,870 on September 1. The upward trend in active cases continued and the count stood at 20,909 on September 6. The number rose to 25,416 on September 10. It crossed the 30,000-mark for the first time on September 16 (30,914). The national Capital has recorded 84,087 COVID-19 cases since August 18 — 2,712 cases a day on an average.

Since September 1, the city has recorded 61,768 cases — 3,431 cases a day on an average.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday said there has been a downward trend in COVID-19 positivity rate in the national Capital and it will lead to good results by next week.

"The positivity rate was 6.76 per cent on Friday. It has remained below 7 per cent in the last two-three days. Last week, it was around 8 per cent," Jain said.

The cumulative positivity rate has also dropped below 10 per cent for the first time, he said. The minister said Delhi has been witnessing a "downward trend" in the COVID-19 positivity rate over the last two to three days.

"It should lead to good results by next week," he said.

On a lighter note, the minister said the word "community spread is stuck in technical terms".

"When people are getting infected in Delhi and all parts of the country in such large numbers, it should have been accepted as community spread. Only the Centre and Indian Council of Medical Research can tell whether it is community spread or not," Jain said.

Asked if there was community spread in Delhi, he said, "It doesn't matter what I believe... I am not technically competent to say so." The minister said more than 500 ICU beds have been made available for COVID-19 patients in private hospitals in the last few days.

"More beds will be made available in private and government hospitals in the next two to three days, he said.

Asked if banquet halls and hotels will be roped in again to increase bed capacity considering the spike in new cases, he said around 7,000 hospital beds are occupied and more than 8,000 are empty.

"We have been keeping a strict watch on the number of beds. We will ramp up bed capacity if need arises," he said.

There were around 14,000 hospital beds available for COVID-19 patients in Delhi a month ago. The number has been increased to 15,000, the minister added.

Jain said the Delhi government will review its strategy for containment zones with experts.

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Friday had issued directions to the government for drafting a fresh policy for containment zones to reduce positivity rate and mortality rate.

On the Delhi High Court's directions to increase RT-PCR tests in the city, Jain said the number of RT-PCR and rapid-antigen tests doesn't seem equivalent because the government has increased testing manifolds.

RT-PCR tests are being conducted on those having symptoms. The rest are undergoing RAT tests, he said.

"If you want to do bulk testing for say 500 people and no one is symptomatic, how can you conduct RT-PCR testing then?" he added.

Meanwhile, Delhi recorded 4,071 fresh instances of COVID-19 infection in a day taking the tally of cases in the city to over 2.42 lakh on Saturday, with the authorities conducting more than 61,000 tests the previous day. Thirty-eight new fatalities pushed the death toll to 4,945, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.

The city has 32,064 active cases on Saturday, it said.

The Saturday bulletin said the death toll due to coronavirus infection has risen to 4,945, and the total number of cases climbed to 2,42,899.