Delhi reported 1,808 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 1,69,412, according to a health bulletin released by the Delhi government on Friday.
Also, 20 more deaths have been reported, taking the total number of deaths to 4,389.
Of the total cases, 1,51,473 people have recovered and there are 13,550 active cases in the city at present.
The number of active cases, positive people under home isolation, and positive people in hospitals have also shown an increase on Friday.
Though the Chief Minister had on Wednesday announced that the number of COVID-19 tests would be doubled to 40,000 a day, the District Magistrate said that they were yet to get any orders on how to increase testing. “There are about 300 dispensaries for such tests and if each of them conducts 100 tests and the hospitals do around 200 tests each, then it will be a substantial number,” Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Friday.
He said that the government will soon start a campaign to encourage people to undergo tests. The Minister also urged people to wear masks and maintain social distance as cases have been rising in the city.
Meanwhile, only 22,933 tests were done in the city in the past 24 hours, the bulletin stated.
When asked about the increase in the number of cases in the city, Mr. Jain said, “It could go up to 2,400 to 2,600 a day, but we will trace all the contacts and test and isolate them. The number of cases is likely to decrease when the government increase testing and tracing.”
When asked if with 29.1% people developing antibodies against the virus, there are chances of Delhi facing a second wave of the infection, the Minister said, “The first wave has not ended in Delhi. The current increase is not a second wave. Nationally, there is a new peak every day, but Delhi is not even reporting half the peak number of cases now.”
After the number of daily new cases in the city on June 23 touched almost 4,000 – the highest so far – it had been dropping. However, earlier this week, the number of daily new cases hit a 30-day high and then breached the 1,500 mark, after remaining below the level for 39 consecutive days.
The number of active cases in the city on Friday was the highest in over a month. The last time the number of active cases was more than this was on July 24 when it was 13,681. The active cases, which were 27,007 on July 1, had fallen to 9,897 on August 4, but since then it has remained above that mark.
The number of containment zones in the city as on Friday was 763, which has been showing a steady increase over the past week.
Mr. Jain also said that the government will start a campaign against dengue from next month.
