Delhi sees rise in COVID-19 cases, reports two deaths after 20 days

On Friday, Delhi logged 62 coronavirus infections, the daily cases count crossing the 60-mark after nearly three months.

New Delhi: Delhi on Friday recorded 62 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest daily count since August 8, and two deaths due to the infection after a gap of nearly three weeks as the positivity rate rose to 0.12 per cent, official data showed.

The national capital had last reported a coronavirus-related death on October 22.

With two more fatalities being reported, the death toll from the pandemic rose to 25,093 in Delhi, according to the data shared by the city health department.

It had recorded a total of four COVID-19 deaths in October and five in September.

On Friday, the city logged 62 cases, the daily cases count crossing the 60-mark after nearly three months, according to official figures.

The rise is being reported after the festive season, much in line with what experts had anticipated about an increase in fresh infections after Diwali and other festivals.

According to official data, the last time the city had recorded over 60 cases in a day was on August 8 -- 66 cases.

The highest daily count in September and October were 55 (September 4) and 45 (October 31) respectively. On August 7, the city logged 72 cases,the highest daily case count for that month.

On July 14, Delhi recorded 77 cases, and the same count on July 27, according to the data.

On July 30, it logged 63 cases and three deaths.

The daily cases count did not cross the 60-mark in the previous two months.

Fifteen cases with a positivity rate of 0.03 per cent were recorded on October 18. This was the lowest daily case count since March 28 last year when nine cases were logged, according to official data.

The daily case count had dropped to 17 on September 13, with no death being recorded, while the positivity rate stood at 0.04 per cent, the figures showed.

The number of cases had shown a downward trend in the last few weeks.

On November 10, the city recorded 54 cases with a positivity rate of 0.09 per cent, while the count was 18 on November 1.

On Friday, the number of cumulative cases stood at 14,40,332. Over 14.14 lakh patients have recovered from the infection.

The case positivity rate increased to 0.12 per cent on Friday, according to the latest health bulletin.

A total of 49,874 tests -- 38,408 RT-PCR and 11,466 rapid antigen -- were conducted a day ago, the bulletin said.

On Thursday, 40 cases were logged with a positivity rate of 0.08 per cent.

On Wednesday, 54 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 0.09 per cent; and 33 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 0.06 per cent on Tuesday.

The Delhi Cabinet recently had approved a budget of Rs 1,544 cr to bolster the health system and augment its capacity to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Delhi's fight against COVID-19 will get stronger after Delhi Cabinet's nod to the state's own 'Emergency COVID Response Package', the Chief Minister's Office had earlier said.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had recently said medical infrastructure was being ramped up and 37,000 beds dedicated for COVID-19 patients were being set up to tackle the anticipated third wave of the pandemic in the national capital.

The number of active cases increased to 371 on Friday from 367 a day before, according to the latest bulletin.

The number of people under home isolation stood at 156 on Friday while it was 165 a day before, and the number of containment zones in the city stood at 111, up from 97 on Wednesday, the bulletin said.