The Capital reported 332 COVID-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, pushing the toll to 19,071 on Saturday. A total of 17,364 new infections were also reported during the same period, taking the tally to 13,10,231, according to a health bulletin released by the Delhi government. Of the total cases, 12,03,253 people have recovered and there are 87,907 active cases in the national capital.
A total of 74,384 tests were conducted in 24 hours. The test positivity rate was 23.34%. This means that about 23 out of 100 people tested turned out to be COVID-19 positive.
There was a sharp rise in test positivity rate from 3.5% on April 1 to 36.2% on April 22. The test positivity rate fell below 25% on May 6 and has stayed below the mark since. Decreasing test positivity rate is a good sign, said experts. The test positivity rate should be ideally below 5%.
Meanwhile, the rush outside Safdarjung Hospital has reduced compared to two weeks back when the number of new cases in the city was around 25,000 a day. There was no ambulance waiting outside the building around 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Officials said that other hospitals such as Lok Nayak and Guru Teg Bahadur are also witnessing a reduction in number of ambulances arriving at COVID wards. At GTB Hospital, the emergency ward is now less crowded and there are no long queues, said doctors.
The Delhi government on Saturday also declared Indira Gandhi Hospital in Dwarka as a dedicated COVID-19 facility. Initially, 250 beds of the 900-bed facility will be opened for COVID-19 patients, read an order.
A total of 1,112 oxygen cylinders were distributed to people under home isolation on Saturday through offices of all 11 district magistrates, according to officials.
