Covid-19: Delhi logs 17,335 fresh cases, positivity rate at 17.73%

Delhi on Friday reported 17,335 fresh cases and 9 deaths while the positivity rate also shot up to 17.73 per cent. The number of active cases in the capital now stands at 39,873. Almost 1 lakh tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.

Delhi had on Thursday had reported 15,097 fresh Covid-19 cases and 6 deaths with a positivity rate of 15.34 per cent.

Earlier on Thursday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said that the national capital is expected to log over 15,000 cases while adding that the Covid situation in the city was under control. “Delhi is in a comfortable position in terms of hospital bed occupancy. No need for lockdown right now,” he said.

Delhi government is prepared for the worst-case scenario and the number of beds has been increased from over 9,000 to over 12,000, the health minister said.

Reportedly, a total of 1,142 Covid-19 oxygen beds out of 12,156 beds are occupied in Delhi hospitals, while 71 ICU beds with ventilators have patients, with hospitals saying that a majority of hospitalised patients are those with comorbidities and elderly.

Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital's medical director Suresh Kumar said only four coronavirus patients are on ventilator support at the facility and they have comorbid conditions. The hospital at present has 35 patients who are suspected to have contracted the Omicron variant of the virus.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government had announced a weekend and night curfew to prevent the spread of Covid-19 infections. The decision was taken after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) that reviewed the situation in the national capital in the wake of Omicron's spread.

(with agency inputs)