September high: 1 lakh new cases, 15 lakh tests

September high: 1 lakh new cases, 15 lakh tests

Sidhartha.Roy@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:03.10.2020

In September, Delhi recorded more than one lakh Covid-19 cases, the highest in a month since March when the city saw its first Covid-19 case. The major reason behind this spike is also the record number of tests being carried out last month — 15.2 lakh, around 50,000 a day.

On Friday, Delhi recorded 2,920 fresh Covid-19 cases. In all, 56,258 tests were carried out, with a positivity rate of 5.1%. The number of deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Delhi government’s health bulletin, was 37, taking the overall Covid toll to 5,438. The death rate, based on the last 10 days’ data, is 1.1%.

Friday’s figure of new cases took the tally of total positive cases to 2.85 lakh. In the last 24 hours, 3,171 patients have recovered, discharged or migrated, taking the total recovery figure to 2.5 lakh, with an overall recovery rate of 88.8%. The cumulative case fatality rate stands at 1.9%. From more than 30,000 at a point of time in September, the number of active Covid cases in Delhi has come down to 26,450.

Of the total 56,258 tests carried out in the last 24 hours, 11,105 were RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat and 45,153 rapid antigen. With nearly 32 lakh Covid tests conducted since the outbreak in March, the tests per million carried out in Delhi stands at 1,67,981. Of all the tests carried out till date, nearly half were carried out in September. However, the lion’s share of these tests was rapid antigen tests, which are not as reliable as RT-PCR ones.

Out of the total 15,844 Covid beds in Delhi’s hospitals, 6,071 are occupied and 9,773 are vacant. The 8,137 beds in the dedicated Covid care centres have 5,937 beds vacant and 1,291 occupied but the vacant beds include 909 beds occupied by people under quarantine, including travellers who came by Vande Bharat Mission and bubble flights. Out of the 527 beds in the dedicated Covid health centres, 316 are occupied and 211 vacant. The number of Covid-19 patients recuperating in home isolation is 15,852.

Last month, Delhi saw 1,05,692 fresh Covid-19 cases, the highest for a month since the city saw its first corona case. September also saw 917 deaths and 93,885 patients recovering from the disease.

In August, Delhi recorded 40,344 new cases and July 46,914 cases, which is less than the number of cases in September even when combined. June, which had seen the last peak of Covid-19 cases, had recorded 68,968 fresh cases. However, compared to the 917 deaths in September, the fatality count stood at 2,269 in June.

While September saw more than 15.2 lakh Covid tests being carried out, the number of tests carried out in earlier months was much lower. More than 5.5 lakh tests were carried out in August, 4.9 lakh in July and 3.3 lakh in June. The number of tests carried out before June was even lower and records are not available in the public domain.

While the number of new cases recorded in September is the highest, the positivity rate is the lowest since June. The overall positivity rate in June was 20.6%, with the rate even going beyond 30% during the peak. In July, the positivity rate dipped to 9.3%, and in August, it came down further to 7.2% and was 6.9% in September. The cumulative positivity rate in Delhi till date is 8.9%.

By the end of August, as the number of Covid-19 cases started rising, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that Covid-19 tests in the capital would be doubled to 40,000 a day, compared with about 20,000 tests a day being carried out till then.

In September, on average 50,000 tests were carried out every day, though a huge number of these were rapid antigen tests, which provides results within half an hour but are not as reliable as the RT-PCR tests.

While September saw more than 15.2 lakh Covid tests being carried out, over 5.5 lakh tests were carried out in August, 4.9 lakh in July and 3.3 lakh in June