With a record number of COVID-19 tests being done, the Capital on Thursday witnessed the highest number of daily cases with 4,308 people tested positive in the past 24 hours, according to a health bulletin released by the Delhi government.
The total number of cases stood at 2,05,482. This is the second day in a row Delhi is recording the highest number of cases and tests.
A total of 58,340 COVID-19 tests were done in the past 24 hours, which is the highest since the virus outbreak. In July, the average daily tests were around 20,000 and it was even lesser in June when the highest number of cases till today — 3,947 — was reported on June 23.
Positivity rate
Though the number of cases has gone up, the positivity rate was 7.3%, (percentage of people testing positive for every 100 tests done) which is the lowest in September.
Also, 28 more deaths have been reported, taking the total number of deaths to 4,666.
Of the total cases, 1,75,400 people have recovered and there are 25,416 active cases.
Of the total 14,228 beds available for COVID-19 treatment in the city, 8,453 (59.4%) were vacant, as per government data on Thursday.
Also, 56.7% of ventilators have been occupied, according to official data.
Also, the number of containment zones in the city jumped to 1,272, which is the highest till now.
Plasma therapy
Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said that the Delhi government will continue with plasma therapy to fight COVID-19.
A study funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found that use of convalescent plasma therapy in COVID-19 patients does not help in reducing mortality or progression to severe COVID-19, PTI had reported on Tuesday.
“The ICMR did not say that there is no benefit [of using plasma therapy]. When a person is on a ventilator, then maybe there is no benefit, before that there is benefit of plasma therapy. There are three stages in ICU and earlier, it was said that there was no benefit of using it in Stage 3. But there is a huge benefit in using it in Stage 1 and 2,” Mr. Jain said on Thursday.
He said that all districts have been given directions to conduct COVID-19 tests in densely populated areas in the city.
“Any ID proof is needed [for testing]. I think everyone in Delhi has an Aadhaar card. In the country also, how many people are there, all of them have an Aadhaar card,” he said.
