Delhi records 407 new COVID-19 cases; positivity rate 0.60%

New Delhi: Delhi recorded 407 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, crossing the 400-mark for the fourth consecutive day, while the positivity rate stood at 0.60 per cent, according to data shared by the health department.

The death toll climbed to 10,941 with two more fatalities, as per the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department.

The city had recorded 419 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, while 431 cases were recorded on Friday, the highest single-day spike in over two months. The count on Thursday was 409.

Delhi had registered 370 new cases on Wednesday and 320 on Tuesday. The city had reported three COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday and four on Tuesday.

A total of 585 cases were reported on January 1 and 424 on January 3. The daily count had dropped to 306 on January 11 and risen again to 386 on January 12, according to official figures.

The numbers had started to come down in February. On February 26, the month’s highest daily count of 256 new cases was recorded.

The new coronavirus cases recorded on Sunday took the infection tally to 6,43,696, the bulletin said.

The number of active cases in the city rose to 2,262 on Sunday from 2,207 on Saturday.

Health experts and doctors have attributed this “sudden rise” of COVID-19 cases to people turning complacent, not following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and “assuming that all is well now”.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had on Friday said the figures of over 400 per day suddenly were “not alarming”, and had asserted that the positivity rate was still below one per cent.

The total number of tests conducted on Saturday stood at 68,223, including 41,195 RT-PCR tests and 27,028 rapid antigen tests, the bulletin said.

The number of people under home isolation on Sunday rose to 1,270 from 1,204 on Saturday, it said, adding that over 6.30 lakh people have recovered from the infection till date.