Delhi recorded 4,998 fresh Covid-19 cases on Saturday and a positivity rate of 7.24 per cent while 89 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 8998.
According to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department, these relatively high numbers of fresh cases came out of the 69051 tests conducted on Saturday including 33147 RT-PCR tests.
The national capital had recorded its highest single-day spike of 8,593 cases on November 11 when 85 fatalities linked to the pandemic were also registered.
The active cases tally on Saturday stood at 36,578 and the total number of cases has climbed to 561742 of which 516166 have recovered.
The number of COVID-19 containment zones in Delhi rose to 5331. The bulletin said that of the total number of 18389 beds in COVID-19 hospitals, 9793 are vacant.
As the national capital grappled with a surge in the infection, the Delhi government directed private hospitals to reserve ICU and normal beds for COVID-19 patients once these are vacated after the discharge of non-coronavirus patients.
The government has ordered 90 private hospitals to reserve 60 per cent of their total bed capacity for COVID-19 patients, while 42 private hospitals have been directed to reserve 80 per cent of their total ICU bed capacity for such patients.
The National Centre for Disease Control in a report drafted recently had warned that Delhi needs to be prepared for about 15,000 fresh cases of COVID-19 per day taking into account the upcoming winter season-related respiratory problems, large influx of patients from outside and festive gatherings.