Delhi records 1,410 COVID cases, 14 deaths; positivity rate down to 2.45%

New Delhi: Delhi on Sunday reported 1,410 fresh COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths, while the positivity rate dropped to 2.45 per cent, according to data shared by the health department. With this, the national capital’s case count increased to 18,43,933 and the death toll climbed to 25,983 the latest health bulletin stated. The number of COVID-19 tests conducted a day ago stood at 57,549, it said. Delhi had on Saturday reported 1,604 cases with a positivity rate of 2.87 per cent, and 17 deaths. The number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on 13 January. The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on 14 January, the highest during the ongoing wave of the pandemic. It took just 10 days for daily cases to drop below the 10,000-mark. Delhi had on 23 January reported 9,197 Covid cases with a positivity rate of 13.32 per cent and 34 deaths. The surge in COVID cases in Delhi during the third wave of the pandemic was due to the Omicron variant of the virus which is highly transmissible. Several families in a large number of neighbourhoods had tested positive, but medical experts said since the infection had happened at the same time, the recovery too was quicker for the community as a whole. Also, there has been less chance of more spread of the infection as people have been largely home isolated with a very little number of patients needing hospitalisation this time, they said. The DDMA had on Friday held a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation and decided to reopen higher education institutions and coaching centres along with schools for class 9-12 from February 7 amid dipping Covid cases in the city. The DDMA, however, decided that night curfew will continue in Delhi. Gyms have also been allowed to reopen with certain restrictions. There are 15,416 beds for Covid patients in Delhi hospitals and 975 (6.32 per cent) of them were occupied. A total of 975 Covid patients were in hospitals, the Sunday health department bulletin stated. The number of people under home isolation stood at 6,401 on Sunday while it was 7,267 a day before, and the number of containment zones in the city stood at 30,546, a fall from 31,825 on Saturday, the bulletin said.