On a day when the Capital recorded the second-highest number of fresh COVID-19 cases — 27,561— since the start of the pandemic, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said there were indications that the current wave may have peaked and may decline in two-three days.
As many as 40 COVID-related deaths were reported over 24 hours, the highest in the current wave, taking the total toll to 25,240, stated a health bulletin released by the Delhi government on Wednesday. Delhi’s highest COVID-19 cases so far — 28,395 — were recorded on April 20 last year during the peak of the second wave of the pandemic.
Mr. Jain said hospital admissions due to COVID-19 have stabilised over the last five days. “For the past few days, there have been close to 20,000 cases daily in Delhi and the positivity rate has consistently been around 25%. Aside from that, the number of people admitted to hospitals is not growing. The current stability of the positivity rate and the rate of hospitalisation of patients may indicate the peak of the corona [virus infections],” Mr. Jain said.
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New ICMR guidelines
The Health Minister also said that according to the new ICMR guidelines, if a person does not have any symptoms of COVID-19 and is under 60 years of age without any comorbidity, then he or she does not have to be tested.
The test positivity rate (TPR) in the Capital rose to 26.22% on Wednesday, according to the health bulletin. It was recorded at 25.65% a day earlier. The number of tests conducted over 24 hours — 1,05,102 — was also the highest during the current wave. Active cases in the city rose to 87,445 from 74,881 a day earlier.
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Of the total 14,802 beds, 84.04% were vacant as of Wednesday. But the rate of increase in TPR and new cases has slowed down over the past couple of days, compared with last week when the spike was as high as 94.5% on January 5.