KEEP TOLL LOW, SUPPRESS COVID TRANSMISSION: CENTRE’S TWO-FOLD ADVICE TO STATES
NEWDELHI: The number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases recorded in the national capital till now crossed the 100,000 mark on Monday, crossing a grim milestone that underlines the challenge in containing the outbreak even as daily numbers show a sustained decline.
The capital recorded 1,379 new cases, the lowest in a day since June 9, according to Delhi government data. The number of tests dipped from 23,136 in Sunday’s to 13,879 in Monday’s bulletin.
The capital’s first case was 127 days ago when on March 2, a 45-year-old man from Mayur Vihar tested positive after returning from Italy.
Senior government officials said the dip in the number of tests conducted on July 5 was because it was a Sunday. Government data confirmed the trend. On June 28 (Sunday), 16,157 tests were conducted and on June 21 (Sunday), 14,682 tests were conducted. “On Saturday, all the 11 districts had conducted a total of 23,136 tests, which dropped to 13,879 on Sunday. These numbers include both RT-PCR and rapid antigen detection tests. Earlier also, the testing numbers had dipped on Sundays because fewer people turn up and fewer workers report to duty. They cannot be working seven days a week for months together,” a senior government official said.
The city touched the 1-lakh mark six days later than predicted by a five-member panel set up in the beginning of June to aid the Delhi government plan the increase of infrastructure. Contrary to what the committee had suggested, the number of active cases has also not shot up to 50,000-60,000 yet. It has remained between 25,000-27,000 for the last two weeks—reaching a peak of 28,329 active cases on June 27.
“We had predicted the trajectory of the infection based on the trends then. Anyway, it was the worst-case scenario; now we are well-prepared to handle the cases. The number of active cases seems to have stabilised. This is mainly due to two reasons—now even though we are testing over 20,000 people a day, the positivity rate has been reducing—fewer new cases are being reported. At the same time, the number of recoveries has gone up,” said Dr Arun Gupta, one of the members of the panel and the president of Delhi Medical Council.
REDUCED MORTALITY
Even though it is declining, Delhi’s case fatality rate—the number of people who died of Covid-19—remains over 3%. This is slightly higher than the national average of about 2.8%.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal during a press briefing on Monday said the number of deaths due to Covid-19 has come down. “Earlier, over 125 deaths were being reported on a single day. Now there are 55 to 60 deaths daily. So, the number of deaths has come down by half. It needs to be reduced further,” he said.
Dr Gupta said, “No one across the globe has been able to predict the behaviour of this infection; the models have all failed. But, from the current numbers, I feel that the number of new cases and new hospitalisations will start going down now.”