WEB DESK

There were 496 new Covid-19 cases in the Capital on Tuesday, with the daily positivity rate of 0.89%, official data showed. One person died of the infection.

The number of daily infections reported on Tuesday was the highest in over 200 days, or since June 4, when 523 new cases were reported in the city, according to official data.

The seven-day average of daily infections in Delhi has now touched 256 new cases a day. This number, which denotes a region’s case curve, has now been rising consecutively the past two weeks. Just 30 days ago, this number was at 29, data shows.

There are currently 1,612 active cases in Delhi – making it the largest caseload in the city in at least half a year when there were 1,680 active cases on June 25, as per government data.

The total number of cases of heavily mutated Omicron variant of Sars-CoV-2 recorded in the Capital has also mounted to 165, according to data shared by the Union health ministry.

In April and May, the national capital endured a punishing fourth wave. At its worst, the city reported a high of 28,395 cases on April 20 and a positivity rate of 36.24% on April 22. The surge in infections overwhelmed the health care system. In contrast, of the 8,839 beds in hospitals, only 280 were occupied by Covid-19 patients on Tuesday, the health bulletin said.