A health worker takes a swab sample from the nose of a woman for COVID-19 test, amid a rise in cases, in New Delhi. , Photo Credit: ANI
From 932 cases on March 30 to 4,976 on April 17, Delhi’s active coronavirus cases have seen a jump of over 430% in about three weeks, according to official data.
Delhi has registered over 13,200 cases COVID-19 in the last 19 days.
The active case count on Monday stood at 4,976, a jump of nearly 433% from March 30, when the corresponding figure was 932, the data showed.
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The number of active cases actually stood at 5,297 on Sunday.
Although Delhi has seen a spike in coronavirus cases in the recent past, the hospitalization rate remains low.
Experts have said that there is no need to panic and people should follow Covid-appropriate behavior and take booster shots of vaccines.
Suresh Kumar, the medical director of LNJP Hospital, had warned on April 13 that coronavirus cases would peak in the national capital in the next few weeks.
In the period March 30-April 17, more than 30 deaths have been recorded, including five deaths on April 15.
Delhi recorded 1,017 COVID-19 cases on Monday, while the positivity rate rose to 32.25%, the highest in 15 months, according to data shared by the health department.
The capital had registered a positivity rate of 30.6% on January 14 last year.
Delhi’s COVID-19 tally climbed to 20,24,244 on Monday. The health department’s bulletin said that four new deaths have raised the death toll to 26,567.
Delhi’s daily COVID case count again breached the 1,000-mark on April 12 for the first time in seven months.
Since then, figures have only been reported in four digits.
The spurt in the number of new COVID infections comes amid a sharp rise in H3N2 influenza cases in the country.
The Delhi government is keeping an eye on the spurt in COVID cases in the national capital and is “ready to face any eventuality”, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said recently.
Following the Centre’s guidelines, a mock drill was conducted in various hospitals of Delhi on April 11 to check the preparedness for COVID-19.
Medical experts say that the new XBB.1.16 variant of the virus could increase the surge.
He also said that this increase in the number of cases could be the result of more people getting themselves tested for Covid as a precaution, when they actually become infected with the influenza virus and develop fever and related symptoms.
The Indian Council of Medical Research has stated that the increase in the number of influenza cases is due to Influenza A subtype H3N2.
H3N2 virus tends to lead to more hospitalizations than other subtypes. Symptoms include runny nose, persistent cough and fever.