Delhi's daily Covid count may now see dip, says Health Minister Satyendar Jain
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday predicted that Covid-19 cases in the national capital may fall by 4,000 adding that the positivity rate will remain around 30 percent.
"Today, Covid-19 cases in Delhi are likely to drop by 4,000, with a positivity rate of around 30%. Hospital admission rates haven't climbed in the last 5-6 days. This suggests that there will be fewer cases in the coming days. There are 85 percent of unoccupied hospital beds," said the minister during a media briefing
When asked about the beginning of the peak of fifth wave in Delhi, he added that "peak has arrived. Let's see when the decline begins. It seems like cases have begun to slow down".
The Health Minister went on to say that 'Delhi on Thursday reported 28,867 new COVID-19 cases, 31 fatalities. 2,424 hospitals were occupied. On Friday, over 13,000 beds are vacant and just over 15 per cent of beds in the hospitals were occupied,' he informed.
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Jain's statements come on the same day that the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences' (ILBS) department of clinical virology, which has been doing genome sequencing for Covid-19, discovered signs of early community transmission of the highly contagious Omicron variant in the national capital.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday urged citizens not to panic, saying 'there was no need to worry even though the cases were rising as hospitalisations were low.'
"Cases are rapidly increasing and there are no two ways about it. We all know that the Omicron variant is quite transmissible and infectious," said Kejriwal.
Meanwhile, the national capital on Friday recorded 24,383 Covid-19 infections, a 15.5% decrease from the previous day, while the positivity rate climbed to 30.64%. 34 Covid fatalities were reported on the same day.
Friday’s Covid report came out of 79,578 tests, with a senior government official speculating that the decline in cases could be due to fewer testings.
“The low number of tests can be attributed to the change in testing guidelines. In an advisory issued earlier this week, the central government had said that asymptomatic patients undergoing surgical/non-surgical invasive procedures should not be tested unless warranted or symptoms develop,” said the official.
Also Read | Kejriwal to visit poll-bound Goa today
-PTC News
