1,141 fresh COVID-19 cases emerge; positivity rate continues to plunge

AAP alleges scam in vaccine distribution, says only private hospitals getting stock

Delhi reported 1,141 new COVID-19 cases, out of 71,853 tests, in the past 24 hours, taking the total cases to 14,23,690, according to a health bulletin released by the Delhi government on Friday. At the same time, 139 deaths were reported, which takes the count to 23,951.

Of the total cases, 13,85,158 people have recovered and there are 14,581 active cases. As many as 2,799 people recovered in the past 24 hours.

The test positivity rate fell to 1.59%, which means only one to two people out of 100 people taking tests are positive.

The TPR had peaked at 36% on April 22 but has been coming down since then. Out of the total 25,032 hospital beds for COVID-19, 75.88% of beds were vacant. At the peak of the second wave in April, only 5-6% of beds were vacant on many days.

Oxygen bulletin

There was no vaccine stock for the 18-44 age group for the fifth consecutive day, according to a bulletin by the government. Also, there is no stock of Covaxin left for vaccinating people of 45 years of age and above, healthcare, and front-line workers, the bulletin said.

The Aam Aadmi Party alleged that there was a “scam” in COVID-19 vaccines and the Central government was favouring only Bharat Biotech and SII and was supplying vaccines only to private players who are immunising people at “expensive rates”.

“How are vaccines available in private hospitals, which are vaccinating youth at expensive rates, but not available for State governments? Centre is answerable for this vaccine scam. Private hospitals giving vaccines at ₹1,000-₹1,350 are getting huge stock, but not the State governments,” AAP leader Atishi alleged.

The AAP leader said an artificial scarcity of vaccines has been created by the Central government as they did not approve other vaccines such as Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, which have been approved by WHO and other countries.

“Lakhs of lives have been lost in the face of the second wave of COVID-19, religious and social organisations are coming forward to aid people, but the Centre continues to play dirty politics at the cost of people’s lives. The lives of so many young people would have been saved if the Centre had not done such a downright vaccine scam,” Atishi said in a statement.