Breaking its own record, Delhi on Wednesday recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases in a 24-hour span, pushing the cumulative count past the two-lakh mark, sparking fears of a second wave in the national capital. .
The number of Covid-19 tests performed in a single day also rose to a new record with 54,517 tests performed in the last 24 hours.
Delhi had last witnessed the highest cases in a 24-hour span on June 23, after 3,947 new infections were recorded. Over the past week, Delhi recorded more than 2,800 new cases every day on average.
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Cases in Delhi rose rapidly during May and June, but began to decline in late June after reaching an initial peak. After a steady drop in cases for around three weeks (the seven-day average of cases per day dropped to 983 on Aug. 4), cases began to rise alarmingly from mid-August. As of Wednesday, there are 2,01,174 cases in the city.
With increased testing, the average positivity rate has also started to decline. About 7.41 percent of the tests came back positive on Wednesday. The number, which had fallen from a high of 31.4 percent in mid-June to 5.7 percent in late July, was 8.4 percent last week. Overall, 10.57 percent of all tests conducted in Delhi were positive.
With 11,101 RT-PCR tests, Delhi also set a record for the largest number of single-day RT-PCR tests, according to Wednesday’s health bulletin. Previously, this record was set on Tuesday (September 8), when Delhi conducted 9,944 such tests.
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According to Wednesday’s bulletin, 20 people died from the coronavirus disease, bringing the total death toll in Delhi to 4,638. The city’s fatality rate is now 2.31 percent. So far, 1,72,763 people have recovered from Covid-19 in Delhi so far, 2,623 of which have recovered in the last 24 hours.
The number of buffer zones is also now at a record level with 1,226 blocked towns, buildings and lanes in the city. As of Tuesday, there were 1,166 containment zones in Delhi.
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