New Delhi: Delhi reported 2,790 new Covid-19 cases and nine deaths Thursday, with the positivity rate climbing to 3.57 per cent. This comes even as the capital saw its testing number dip in the past few days compared to the last week.
Delhi conducted a total of 47,026 RT-PCR and 31,047 rapid antigen tests in the last 24 hours, according to the daily health bulletin released Thursday evening. This is in contrast to the over 80,000 tests that were conducted daily most of the last week.
On Wednesday, the bulletin revealed, a total of only 67,070 tests were conducted over the previous 24 hours. On 30 March, the figure was just 36,757.
There has been a constant rise in the Covid positivity rate, with the surge in cases.
Of the over 36,000 tests conducted Tuesday, 992 samples (2.69 per cent) tested positive, followed by 1,819 cases (2.71% positivity rate) on 31 March and 2,790 cases Thursday, which took Delhi’s positivity rate to above 3.5 per cent once again.
In comparison, the positivity rate was 1.7 per cent on 27 March (Saturday), when 91,703 tests were conducted and 1,558 samples tested positive. The corresponding figures last Friday and Thursday were 82,331 tests and 1,534 cases (1.8 per cent) and 84,237 tests and 1,515 cases (1.69 per cent), respectively.
Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain Wednesday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government would increase the number of daily tests to over 80,000 again. “The testing rate had dropped for the last two days. From today onwards, 80,000 tests will be done…30 contacts of every Covid-19 positive patients are being traced,” he told ANI.
The figure of 2,790 cases Thursday was the capital’s highest this year — over 50 per cent jump since Wednesday’s 1,819.
ThePrint reached Jain, Director General of Health Services Nutan Mundeja and several senior officials in the Delhi government for a comment on this, but there had been no response to the calls and text messages until the filing of this report.
District officials whose teams conduct the tests, meanwhile, told ThePrint that the number of tests conducted was relatively fewer this week due to Holi.
“Some people were on holiday…on account of the festival, but we have already started picking up the numbers,” said a district magistrate, who did not want to be named.
Delhi is among the states that have been identified by the Union health ministry for not doing enough RT-PCR tests to track Covid-19 infections.
Also read: Govt says Covid situation ‘going from bad to worse’, Delhi now among 10 worst-hit ‘districts’
‘Urgent’ meeting today
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has called an “urgent” meeting with Jain and senior officials Friday, his office said.
“CM office to hold an urgent meeting at 4 pm tomorrow (Friday), Health Minister Satyendar Jain and other department officials to remain present,” a statement from the CM’s Office said Thursday.
The officials will deliberate on preparing an action plan to fight the pandemic, including issues like number of containment zones, vaccination drive, and requisite availability of hospital beds, it said.
According to orders given by Kejriwal, the health department has increased its vigilance measures, and there has been a 25 per cent increase in the number of beds in ICU and normal wards in 33 private hospitals, said the statement.
In the wake of the Covid surge, the Delhi government Thursday said schools should not call any students to physically attend classes in the new academic session until further orders. It also asked teachers to start online classes from 1 April for the new academic session.
The Directorate of Education (DoE) in a directive, a copy of which is with ThePrint, said, “It is clarified that students of any class should not be called physically in school for the academic session 2021-22 till further orders. However, teaching-learning activities may be commenced from 1 April 2021 for the students through digital modes for the new academic session.”
Also read: No student to be called to school in new academic session till further orders — Delhi govt