Covid cases surge in Delhi, positivity rate soars past 16%

Delhi recorded 429 fresh Covid-19 cases on Sunday, the highest in the last seven months, according to the state government’s health bulletin issued at the end of the day.

The positivity rate for Covid infections has shot up to 16.09 per cent in the national capital. This means that more than 16 out every 100 persons that are tested  for Covid-19 are turning out to be positive in the national capital.

Meanwhile, India reported 3,823 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, a 27 per cent jump over yesterday, according to union health ministry data updated on Sunday morning.

Five deaths were reported due to the disease, with two from Kerala, and one each from Delhi, Rajasthan, and Haryana. The total number of active cases in the country has now shot up to 18,389.

Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are worst hit. Himachal Pradesh, the most vaccinated state, is witnessing a surprise increase, this is being attributed to the large influx of tourists in the hill state.

The Centre has advised the states to step up testing of Covid cases and ensure Covid appropriate behaviour such as wearing of masks and social distancing is followed in the affected clusters. States have also been told to send samples for genome sequencing in Centre’s labs in order to keep track of the Covid strains.