Massive spike: Delhi reports 1,009 new COVID-19 cases

New Delhi, Apr 20: Delhi on Wednesday reported 1,009 fresh covid19 cases, and 1 death in the last 24 hours, according to the health ministry. The positivity rate has reached 5.07%.

314 patients recovered from the infection in the same duration, taking the total recoveries in the national capital to 18,41,890.

Despite a spurt in Covid cases in Delhi, hospitalisation has so far been low accounting for less than three per cent of the total active cases, according to government data.

On April 10, there were 608 active Covid-19 cases in Delhi which only 17 (2.80 per cent) required hospitalisation. Active cases doubled to 1,262 on April 16 but the number of patients in hospitals was just 29 (2.3 per cent).

Two days later, Delhi had 1,729 active cases of which 40 (2.31 per cent) were in hospitals. The number of patients in hospitals requiring oxygen support has increased in terms of numbers but decreased as a percentage. There were six patients on oxygen support (0.99 per cent of the active cases) on April 10 and 12 (0.69 per cent) on April 18, the data showed.

The third wave of infections driven by the Omicron variant earlier this year saw lesser hospitalisations and severe cases in the national capital. Government data showed that coronavirus wasn't the primary reason for most fatalities. Of the 905 deaths reported between January 13 and April 18, COVID-19 was the primary cause in only 227 cases.

On January 17, the highest 2,784 (17.96 per cent) of the 15,505 COVID-19 beds in hospitals were occupied. During the second wave, 20,117 (92 per cent) of the 21,839 beds were occupied on May 6.