Delhi’s positivity rate not low enough to relax curbs: Minister

New Delhi, Jan 19 (IANS) Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said that Delhi’s positivity rate has come down from 30 per cent to 22.5 per cent but it is not low enough to ease the restrictions in the national capital.

“We will observe the positivity rate for three to four more days as it has started coming down to take any decision on the restrictions,” Jain said.

About the Covid beds occupancy in the city, Jain said that there is not much occupancy in hospitals and beds are lying vacant. He said that around 13,000 beds are still unoccupied in the city.

“We have released around 15,600 Covid beds in the city out of the total 37,000 prepared beds. But only 17 per cent of total released beds are occupied in Delhi’s hospitals,” Jain said.

He added that the hospital admissions are also stable from the last one week which is a clear sign that the positivity rate is declining in the city.

Delhi is likely to report around 13000 Covid cases on Wednesday. “We are doing more testing in Delhi. Today, around 24 per cent test positivity rate will be registered with around 13,000 Covid cases”, Jain added.

Delhi on Tuesday recorded 11,684 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hrs. The fresh Covid infections have pushed the tally to 17,34,181. In the same time, 38 deaths were reported, pushing the death toll to 25,425.

Delhi’s positivity rate stood at 22.47 per cent on Tuesday. The active caseload in the city stands at 78,112, as per the Delhi health department.

–IANS

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