The third wave of COVID-19 has emerged as the deadliest since the pandemic struck the Capital earlier this year.
The virus claimed 2,612 lives in Delhi in November alone, which is more than the total combined fatalities recorded in October and September, according to Delhi government data.
September saw 899 deaths while October reported 1,110 fatalities.
The number of COVID-19 deaths recorded in November was also greater than those recorded till the end of June, following a peak that was later acknowledged as the first wave of the virus in the national capital.
Beginning with a surge in daily cases peaking towards the end of June, as many as 2,219 deaths were recorded till June 30 during the first wave of COVID-19, which gradually abated over July.
Cases began peaking again between mid-August and the middle of September, which was acknowledged as the second wave. The Delhi government believes the city is currently under the third wave of COVID-19, which began peaking towards late October.
While deaths remain a cause of concern, a government official said November also witnessed a gradual decline in the positivity ratio, indicating that the third wave was steadily subsiding.
Comparative figures
While the total number of COVID-19 cases stood at 87,360 on June 30, the number spiked to 2,79,715 by the end of September, and increased to 3,86,706 cases till October 31. The case tally till November 31 was 5,70,374.
As both deaths and infections surged, as many as 2,193 containment zones were delineated in Delhi during November compared to just 659 in October and 1,724 in September. Only 294 containment zones were marked in August.
The Delhi government, however, said a gradual decline in the positivity ratio during November was encouraging and being interpreted as the end of the ongoing third wave.
According to Delhi government data, out of the 50,754 people tested on November 7, 7,745 turned out to be infected — a positivity of 15.26%. This figure came down to 7.24% on November 26 when out of 69,051 people tested, 4,998 were found to be positive for the virus.
