Delhi reports 1,491 new Covid-19 cases as positivity rate falls below 2%, 130 more deaths recorded

Delhi's daily tally of the Covid-19 disease continued to decline as 1,491 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload to 1,421,477, according to the health department's bulletin on Wednesday. Nearly 4,000 people (3,952 to be exact) recovered and 130 more succumbed to the viral disease in the national capital, and the total recoveries and death toll currently stand at 1,378,634 and 23,695 respectively, according to the bulletin.

The active cases have come down to 19,148 and the positivity rate also dropped to 1.93%. Wednesday's case count in Delhi is 77 more than that of Tuesday's when 1,568 people tested positive for the viral disease. The deaths on Wednesday are 26 less than that of Tuesday's (156 deaths).

Also Read| Fall in Covid-19 cases, positivity rate in Delhi a result of lockdown: Jain

A total of 77,103 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours of which 53,542 are RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests while the remaining 23,561 are rapid antigen tests, the health department's bulletin said. A little over 10,000 (10,079) Covid-19 patients continue to remain under home isolation in Delhi while the containment zones have also come down to 36,873.

Nearly 44,000 beneficiaries were vaccinated against the Covid-19 disease in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative vaccination figures to 5,185,045. Delhi is currently facing a crunch in the supplies of vaccine doses and the inoculation for beneficiaries between 18-44 years has been suspended by the Aam-Aadmi Party led government.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday that doses for all young beneficiaries in Delhi are exhausted and the vaccination centres for them have been closed from the last four days.

Also Read| ‘More lives would’ve been saved if..’: Kejriwal slams Centre on vaccine exports

Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said, "Covaxin doses meant for senior citizens have also run out of supplies. We have written to the Centre but haven't received the doses yet.Not just in Delhi, several vaccination centres are closed across India. Amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, we should have opened more centres. It is not a good thing that existing centres were closed down."

Pointing out that the second wave of the Covid pandemic proved to be extremely fatal, the Delhi chief minister said the impact of this wave could have been reduced and more lives could have been saved if people were vaccinated on time.

Kejriwal also launched an indirect attack on the Centre over vaccine doses imported to other countries by saying, "Vaccination in India was delayed by six months. Six months ago, several countries started inoculating their citizens at a mass level. We (India) committed a big mistake. Rather than vaccinating our own people, we were sending doses to othercountries."