Delhi records 409 fresh COVID-19 cases, highest in over 2 months

Delhi on Thursday recorded 409 new COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day rise in nearly two months, while the positivity rate rose to 0.59 per cent, according to health department data.

The death toll climbed to 10,934 with three more fatalities, the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department stated.

Delhi had recorded 370 new cases on Wednesday and 320 on Tuesday. The city reported three deaths due to the disease on Wednesday and four on Tuesday.

On Sunday and Monday, 286 and 239 cases, respectively, were recorded in the national capital. The city had registered 321 coronavirus cases and one death last Saturday, and 312 cases and a fatality on Friday.

A total of 585 cases were reported on January 1 and 384 on January 4. The daily count had dropped to 306 on January 11 and risen again to 386 on January 12, according to official figures.

The numbers had started to come down in February. On February 26, the month's highest daily count of 256 cases was recorded.

On Thursday, 409 new coronavirus cases were recorded, taking the infection tally to 6,42,439, the bulletin said.

The number of active cases of the disease in the city rose to 2,020 from 1,900 on Wednesday, while the positivity rate rose to 0.59 from 0.52 per cent the previous day.

Health experts and doctors have attributed this "sudden rise" to people turning complacent, not following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and "assuming all is well now".

The total number of tests conducted on Wednesday stood at 69,810, including 42,187 RT-PCR tests and 25,623 rapid antigen tests, the bulletin said.

The number of people under home isolation on Thursday rose to 1,028 from 982 on Wednesday, it said, adding that over 6.29 lakh people have recovered from the infection till date.