Positivity rate rising fast; 632 fresh cases reported, no deaths

New Delhi: After a steady decline in Covid cases, Delhi has been witnessing a spurt in new infections with the positivity rate registering a nearly three-fold rise between April 11-18, according to city health department data.

On April 11, the positivity rate stood at 2.70 percent which jumped to 3.95 percent on April 15 followed by 5.33 percent on April 16 and 7.72 percent on April 18, according to the data.

Last week, Delhi recorded a total of 2,606 positive Covid cases against 67,360 tests conducted during the period while the average positive rate was 4.79 percent, it showed.

On April 11, 5,079 Covid tests were conducted of which 137 came out positive while on April 18, 6,492 tests were conducted and over 501 people tested positive, according to the data provided by the Delhi government.

The national capital registered two deaths due to Covid during this period.

The positive rate surged during the April 11-18 week, barring on April 17 when the it dropped to 4.21 percent from 5.33 percent the previous day.

Doctors said the cases are expected to surge in the coming days.

However, they said the current trends are not concerning as most of the cases are mild and due to the Omicron XE variant.

"The variant has more transmissibility but is causing mild infection. It is causing upper respiratory infection and not lower respiratory infection," said Dr Jugal Kishore, head of community Medicine, Safdurjung hospital.

The doctors said as the cases rise, there will be some increase in the mortality and hospitalisation rate, but it will not go beyond control.

Dr Abhinav Guliani, a pulmonologist at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said, "People must remain vigilant. There will be an increase in cases but it will not go beyond control," he added.

On April 1, the positivity rate in Delhi was 0.5 percent. However, there was a surge in Covid cases from the second week of April.

Dr Kishore said the relaxation of curbs had a little impact on the current surge.

"People coming out in large numbers might have also led to this increase in cases. But the major reason for the surge, I feel, is the highly transmissible variant," said Kishore.

The DDMA will hold a crucial meeting on Wednesday to discuss the rising number of infections in the city.

Delhi recorded 414 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest in over two-and-a-half months, and 60 fatalities on Saturday, while the positivity rate dipped to 0.53 per cent, according to data shared by the health department.

As per the latest health bulletin, these new fatalities pushed the death toll from COVID-19 in Delhi to 24,557.