Satyendar Jain says COVID-19 testing capacity quadrupled as Delhi records 4,432 new cases with 38 fresh deaths

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday (September 17) said that COVID-19 cases in the capital will show a rise in the next 10 days as testing capacity has been quadrupled while asserting that the plan is to contain the spread of the infection in the long-run through effective isolation.

The national capital, however, witnessed 4,432 fresh coronavirus cases, while the death toll reached 4,877 with 38 fresh fatalities on Thursday. On Wednesday, the city had registered a record single-day spike of 4,473 COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally to over 2.30 lakh, while 33 more deaths were reported.

The previous highest single-day spike of 4,321 cases was recorded on September 12. The city's COVID-19 tally has reached 2,34,701 and the death toll has risen to 4,877, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. On Wednesday, Delhi's death toll from COVID-19 stood at 4,839.

The active cases on Thursday rose to 31,721 from 30,914 on Wednesday, the bulletin said. The number of containment zones in Delhi jumped to 1,670 on Thursday from 1,637 on Wednesday. 

The Delhi government has also significantly ramped up testing in the last few days. The number of tests conducted and corresponding fresh cases reported from September 1-16 in that order are: 24,198 (2,312); 28,835 (2,509); 32,834 (2,737); 36,219 (2,914) 38,895 (2,973); 36,046 (3,256); 22,954 (2,077); 45,797 (3,609); 54,517 (4,039); 58,340 (4,308); 60,580 (4,266); 60,076 (4,321); 56,656 (4,235); 44,884 (3,229); 62,669 (4,263) and 62,593 (4,473).

Amid a spike in the COVID-19 cases, Satyendar Jain asserted that the plan is to contain the spread of the infection in the long-run through effective isolation.

Interacting with reporters, Jain said, reports of the sero-prevalence survey conducted in the first week of September will be first put before the high court. Jain took a meeting with medical directors/medical superintendents of all Delhi government hospitals to review the status of testing.

Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, along with the district magistrates, reviewed COVID-19 management in a meeting, according to the bulletin.

On Thursday, over 4,000 cases were recorded for 60,014 tests conducted on Wednesday. The number of rapid-antigen tests conducted on Thursday stood at 50,450, while the RT-PCR, CBNAAT, and True NAAT tests figures were 9,564, in all adding to 60.014, according to the bulletin.

As on Thursday, the number of tests done per million was over 1,24,715 while the total number of tests stood at 23,69,592. The positivity rate is 7.38 per cent, minor increase from Wednesday's 7.15 per cent, while the recovery rate is 84.40 per cent, the bulletin said, adding that the case fatality rate stands at 2.08 per cent.

Since August 18, cases in the city have been coming in the four-figure count. According to the bulletin, out of the total number of 14,521 beds in COVID hospitals, 6,783 are vacant. It said 2,700 beds in COVID care centres are occupied by people under quarantine, including travellers who have returned under the Vande Bharat Mission and by bubble flights.

The bulletin said 1,98,103 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far. The number of people in home isolation stands at 18,038 up from 17,324 the previous day.

(With Agency Inputs)