Delhi adds 19,133 new Covid-19 cases, 335 deaths in one day; positivity rate below 25%
As many as 20,028 patients recovered from the Covid-19 disease in Delhi on Thursday, taking the total recoveries in the national capital past 1.16 million while the active cases have climbed to 90,629, the health department's bulletin showed.
Delhi on Thursday recorded 19,133 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 335 deaths, taking the caseload and the death toll to 1,273,035 and 18,398 respectively, according to the health department’s bulletin. As many as 20,028 patients recovered on Thursday, taking the total recoveries in the national capital past 1.16 million while the active cases have climbed to 90,629, the bulletin showed.
Delhi’s Covid-19 positivity rate on Thursday went below 25% and stands at 24.29%. Nearly 78,800 tests were conducted on Thursday of which 14,251 are rapid antigen tests and the remaining 64,529 are RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests, the health department’s bulletin showed. The number of patients under home isolation in Delhi are at 50,562 while containment zones have gone past 49,000 (49,123 exact), the bulletin added.
The health infrastructure of the national capital continues to suffer from the shortage of oxygen amid an unprecedented rise in cases and deaths. Several patients of the Covid-19 disease who were at a critical stage, have lost their lives as hospitals are unable to procure supplies of the life saving gas on time.
To address this shortage, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on April 27 that the Delhi government will import 18 cryogenic tankers from Thailand and 21 ready-to-use oxygen plants from France. However, the imports have been delayed due to technical and administrative reasons, senior government officials told Hindustan Times on Tuesday.
The daily requirement of oxygen in Delhi was at 700 metric tonnes (MT) which has now gone up to 976 MT. On Wednesday, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led Delhi government urged the Centre to regulate the distribution of cryogenic tankers across India and provide 187 tankers to Delhi in order to meet its daily oxygen requirement.
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Meanwhile, 68,205 beneficiaries were vaccinated against the Covid-19 disease on Thursday, taking the cumulative figures to 3,552,037. With the third phase of the vaccination drive underway where doses are being administered to those in the age group of 18-45, CM Kejriwal claimed on Wednesday that Delhi is not getting sufficient vaccine doses. He added if the doses are provided in sufficient quantities, the entire population of Delhi can be vaccinated in three months.