Cases in Delhi declining, city likely to report 17,000 COVID-19 cases today: Health minister Satyendra Jain

New Delhi: Delhi Health minister Satyendra Jain on Sunday said that the COVID-19 cases in the national capital are on the decline and the city is likely to report about 17,000 fresh cases today.

"About 17,000 COVID cases expected today with case positivity also expected to decline; cases declining for the third consecutive day if we see yesterday's numbers. About 67,000 tests were done yesterday", he said.

The Covid-19 cases in Delhi on Saturday reached new high after the city reported 20,718 new cases and 30 deaths in last 24 hours.

With this, the active Covid cases have risen to 93,407, while the positivity rate remains at 30.64 per cent, the Delhi health department said.

Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday said that it seems the national capital has reached its peak in Covid-19 infections and the government will think of easing restrictions when the cases decline to touch 15,000.

"We can say that Delhi has reached a peak in terms of cases. Cases have started slowing down. Let’s see when the decline happens," he told reporters.

Speaking about the number of people being hospitalized in the city, the Deputy Minister said that the hospitalisation rate has stabilised in Delhi.

According to a report, although the number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi rose almost by nine times between January 1 and 14, the percentage of patients on ventilator support in city hospitals grew only by double during the same period, government data showed.

According to the data provided by the government, on January 1, there were 2,716 Covid cases, while on January 14, the number of cases was 24,383.Similarly, on January 1, the hospital occupancy was 247, out of which five patients were on ventilator support (2.02 per cent), while on January 14, the hospital bed occupancy was 2,529, out of which 99 patients (3.91 per cent) were on ventilator.

It shows that the number of cases rose by 8.9 times between January 1 and 14, but the percentage of Covid patients on ventilator support saw only a two-fold rise.