Delhi cases dip to 6,430, CM urges caution

Delhi on Saturday reported 6,430 fresh Covid-19 cases, and the positivity rate dipped to 11.32%, with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal saying that infections were “slowly and steadily” reducing in the national capital, where the health care system was overrun by spiralling cases amid a raging fourth wave of the pandemic.

The Capital has been under a lockdown for about four weeks, a “last resort” measure taken by the Delhi government to arrest the alarming spread of the infectious disease, which led to hospitals being overburdened and medical supplies running short.

While the current lockdown is supposed to end on May 17, there are indications that it could be extended.

There were 337 more deaths due to Covid-19 on Saturday,

NEW DELHI:

according to the government’s health bulletin on data from the previous 24 hours.

Saturday was the second consecutive day when Delhi recorded fewer than 10,000 cases in recent weeks. On Friday, the Capital recorded 8,506 cases, the lowest since April 10. The city conducted only 56,811 tests, according to Saturday’s bulletin, as compared to almost 70,400 tests conducted on average daily over the last seven days.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said: “The virus is reducing in Delhi slowly and steadily, and I hope it diminishes completely and does not rise again. However, we are not going to become negligent in anyway.”

At the peak of the positivity rate in the fourth wave, more than one in three people in Delhi who got tested were found to have the infection.

Experts urged caution over the dip in the cases, saying that