COVID: Delhi records single-day spike of 5K amid festivities, pollution

The national capital on Friday (October 30) recorded the biggest single-day rise of 5,891 COVID-19 cases, which took its infection tally to over 3.81 lakh, while the positivity rate shot up to nearly 10 per cent amid festivities and rising pollution in the city.

This was the third consecutive day when more than 5,000 cases were reported in a day in Delhi.

On Thursday, the city recorded 5,739 cases of coronavirus infection. The national capital also recorded 47 new fatalities on Friday, pushing the death toll to 6,470, according to a bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.

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As many as 59,641 tests for detection of COVID-19 was conducted on Thursday. The number of active cases in the city rose to 32,363 on Friday from 30,952 the previous day, it stated.

The bulletin said the total number of cases in the city has climbed to 3,81,644, while the number of containment zones in Delhi increased to 3,113 from 3,047 on Wednesday.

The government, however, has not declared it the third wave of COVID-19 cases yet. While the rise in cases is being attributed to the ongoing festival season – Chhath and Diwali approaching in November – the government says it is because of a robust contact tracing and testing.

The Delhi government has significantly ramped up testing in the past few days, with the count on multiple times crossing the 60,000 mark. The number of rapid antigen tests conducted on Thursday stood at 42,583 while the RT-PCR, CBNAAT and True NAAT tests figures were 17,058 in all adding to 59,641, according to the bulletin. The number of tests done per million, as on Thursday, was over 2.44 lakh while the total number of tests stood at over 46 lakh. The number of people in home isolation rose to 19,064 compared to 18,069 the previous day.

The national capital is also simultaneously experiencing a rise in pollution levels.

The National Centre for Disease Control in a report drafted recently had warned that Delhi needs to be prepared for about 15,000 fresh cases of COVID-19 per day taking into account the upcoming winter season-related respiratory problems, large influx of patients from outside and festive gatherings.

Cautioning the public on the same, Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday asked them to strictly wear mask to avoid both pollution and COVID.

Reports say the LNJP hospital is currently recording almost twice the number of ICU patients because of the rising pollution.

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Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev held a review meeting with all district magistrates on COVID-19 management, the bulletin said. Milling crowd during the festive season, increase in pollution level and laxity in behaviour by many in observing COVID-19 safety norms have led to a massive surge in daily cases in the national capital in the last few days, experts said on Thursday.

(With inputs from agencies)