Delhi's 4th wave has killed more than the last three combined

New Delhi: The Delhi government on Sunday reported 6,456 fresh infections of Covid-19 in the city and 262 more deaths due to the virus. While the positivity rate has declined consistently over the last few days resulting in fewer daily cases, daily deaths remain high on average around or over 300 daily — a distinct feature of the fourth wave.

What now reveals the increased fatality of this wave is the fact that the last 57 days of the fourth wave (March 20 to May 15) saw more people dying from Covid than in the first, second and third waves of the pandemic — combined.

These are just deaths that the Delhi government chose to report. According to the official figures, a total of 10,291 people lost their lives to the virus between March 20 and May 15. As per granular data compiled by Millennium Post, by March 20, the fourth wave was well on its way up.

The first wave of the pandemic started around May 29, peaked on June 23 and came back down around July 31. During this time, Delhi government figures showed that 3,647 virus deaths had occurred. After a brief lull, the second wave began around August 19, ending around October 8 before peaking on September 16. This wave saw relatively fewer deaths according to the official figures at 1,427.

But the third wave was quick to pick up with the festive season already underway. When the third wave peaked on November 11, the city had reported over 8,500 cases - the highest ever till then since the outbreak. By this time the city was for the first time reporting over 100 deaths daily and by the end of it on December 31, 4,920 more people had succumbed to the virus.

All put together, in these three waves combined, the Capital lost 9,994 people to the virus. In comparison, in the 57 days between March 20 and May 15, official numbers put the toll from the virus at 10,291. And while the cases seem to be on a rapid downtrend in the city, daily deaths continue to be high.

Sunday's health bulletin reported that the city's positivity rate had continued to dip and was now at 10.40 per cent. The numbers further showed that the Capital saw its third consecutive day of fresh cases below 10,000 on Sunday.

But testing in the city has remained a woe with numbers fluctuating and not remaining high steadily. On Sunday, the Delhi government said it had conducted just a little over 62,000 tests in the last 24 hours.