Delhi Covid-19 Cases: With today’s fresh infections, total Covid cases in Delhi crossed 14.18 lakh
New Delhi:
Delhi recorded 1,550 new coronavirus cases today – lowest since March 30 – prompting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to say that the second deadly wave of Covid is now under control. The good news however came with a warning. “Second wave in control, started prep for 3rd wave,” the Chief Minister tweeted with a list of steps taken to control the pandemic.
“Imported 6000 oxy cylinders. Can set up 3000 oxy beds with these. Grateful to HCL, Give India and Central govt (esp Indian embassy in Beijing) for helping us get these cylinders to Delhi. Many more preps underway,” Mr Kejriwal tweeted with photos of the imported oxygen cylinders.
Second wave in control, started prep for 3rd wave.
Imported 6000 oxy cylinders. Can set up 3000 oxy beds with these. Grateful to HCL, Give India and Central govt (esp Indian embassy in Beijing) for helping us get these cylinders to Delhi.
Many more preps underway pic.twitter.com/RZGHObqKne
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 24, 2021
This is the second consecutive day when cases fell below 2,000 in Delhi. The city recorded 207 deaths in 24 hours. The positivity rate stood at 2.5 per cent while the fatality rate is at 1.65 per cent.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared Covid positivity rate below 5 per cent to be within the safe zone. Experts have said that the dip in cases can be attributed to the lockdown in the capital, which Mr Kejriwal said may be slowly lifted if infections keep going down. For now, the lockdown will be in place till 5 am on May 31.
The lockdown was declared last month as the Covid cases started an upward trend and reached numbers that left the healthcare system crippled. The capital bore the brunt of the second wave of the deadly virus as it swept the country. Delhi ran out of supplies and the medical infrastructure collapsed even as patients poured into hospitals – many dying due to lack of oxygen or even a bed.
Delhi has till now recorded over 14.18 lakh Covid cases and 23,181 deaths since the outbreak in early 2020.
The active cases count now stands at 24,578, also the lowest since April 8. Over 13,000 patients are in home isolation.
The capital’s recovery rate is at 96.61 per cent, highest since April 1. 4,375 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the total to over 13.7 lakh.
61,506 Covid tests were conducted in the last 24 hours taking the total to over 1.87 lakh tests. This is a slight dip from the 68,043 tests that had been conducted on Sunday.
Vaccinations for the 18-44 age group was paused on Saturday due to shortage of doses. The state government also tried to buy shots from US pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna directly, but they declined saying they will only deal with the central government.
Arvind Kejriwal has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an increase in the supply of doses. “Every month, Delhi needs 80 lakh doses, but it received only 16 lakh doses in May. For June, our share has been reduced further to eight lakh doses,” he said.