Delhi on Friday registered 444 fresh cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 10 related fatalities, which pushed the tally and death toll to 629,282 and 10,654 respectively. Nearly 615,000 people have recovered or discharged so far and the active cases of Covid-19 have dropped to 3,779, according to Delhi health department’s bulletin.
Since last week of December 2019, the daily coronavirus infection tally in the national capital remained below the 1,000-mark after 803 cases were reported on December 21. In the first week of January, the national capital reported less than 500 Covid-19 cases daily except on January 6 when 654 cases were added.
The positivity also dipped to 0.59 per cent from 0.63 per cent on Thursday. Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain had said earlier that the positivity rate had been below 1 per cent from the past several days adding that it was an indication that the Covid-19 situation was improving.
A total of 75,724 Covid-19 tests were conducted on Friday which included 38,839 RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and the remaining 36,885 rapid antigen tests. More than 9.2 million tests have been conducted in Delhi so far and the tests per million stood 486,025, the bulletin showed. The containment zones are at 2,965 and 1,807 people have been placed under home isolation.
Officials said on Thursday that all medical colleges operated by the Delhi government had been ordered to reopen but pointed out that physical classes would resume in a phased manner for different academic batches. The institutions, which include Maulana Azad Medical College and the University College of Medical Sciences, had been closed since March last year in view of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Friday that all travellers arriving from the United Kingdom (UK) will be required to undergo a week-long institutional quarantine and a week-long home quarantine even if they test negative for Covid-19. “To protect Delhiites from exposure to the virus from the UK, the Delhi government has taken important decisions. Travellers coming from the UK will have to mandatorily undergo a self-paid RT-PCR test on arrival at the airport,” Kejriwal said amid the spread of the new Covid-19 strain detected in the UK.
Earlier, the chief minister had appealed to the Centre to extend the suspension of flights to and from the UK in view of the new strain which has infected 13 people in Delhi till now. The Centre has allowed passengers flights from the UK to resume in limited numbers from today onwards after they had been suspended for 16 days.
