Coronavirus | New cases touch 2-month high in Delhi

Govt. to train more personnel to collect samples to double daily COVID-19 tests

Health workers take blood samples for a serological survey, in north Delhi’s Adarsh Nagar on Wednesday.

The Capital on Wednesday recorded the highest number of daily new COVID-19 cases in over two months with 2,509 cases being reported in the past 24 hours, according to a health bulletin released by the Delhi government. The total number of cases stood at 1,79,569.

The last time a higher number of cases were reported was on July 3, when 2,520 cases were reported.

Highest number of tests

Delhi also conducted the highest number of COVID-19 tests in 24 hours, 28,835, since the virus outbreak in the city, according to Wednesday’s bulletin.

The Delhi government is planning to train more personnel, including assistants at mohalla clinics, to collect samples for COVID-19 testing to double daily tests from 20,000 to 40,000, officials said.

On August 26, after chairing a meeting on the upward trend in COVID-19 cases in the city, the Chief Minister had said that number of daily tests would be doubled in a week.

Also, 19 more deaths have been reported, taking the total number of deaths to 4,481, as per the bulletin. Of the total cases, 1,58,586 people have recovered and there are 16,502 active cases.

“The government is also working on tweaking the testing strategy, following court orders, and a new order is likely to be issued on it later this week,” a Delhi government official said.

Wednesday also witnessed an increase in multiple other parameters — number of active cases, positive people under home isolation, and people admitted at hospitals.

High active cases

The number of active cases in the city on Wednesday was the highest in about 45 days, as per the bulletin. The active cases, which were 27,007 on July 1, had fallen to 9,897, below the 10,000 mark in months, on August 4, but since then it has remained above that mark.

The number of positive people under home isolation was 8,407 on Wednesday and is the highest in over 40 days. People in hospitals, 4,278, are also the highest in over 45 days.

The number of containment zones in the city has jumped to 894, which has been increasing for about 15 days.