Delhi reported 12,481 Covid cases on Tuesday, while the death toll due to the viral disease has shot up to 20,010 with 347 more people succumbing to it in the last 24 hours.
With this, the daily positivity rate has dipped below 18 per cent for the first time since April 14 this year. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the demand for oxygen beds is less now as compared to the weeks gone by. “We have about 23,000 beds, of which 20,000 are occupied. Uninterrupted oxygen supply is needed to avoid any tragic outcomes. We are still getting a little less than the city’s requirement for oxygen,” he said.
“In the last few days, the positivity rate has declined from 36 per cent to 17.76, with the caseload also going down from 28,000 per day to about 12,500. Until we reach the positivity rate that is under five per cent, and a caseload that is below 3,000-4,000, we cannot be at ease,” he added.
According to a bulletin issued by the Delhi Government’s Health Department, over 70,000 tests were conducted to detect Covid cases in the last 24 hours. The bulletin also said that more than 1.40 lakh people were inoculated against the disease in the period and of the 22,953 beds in hospitals, 3,890 were vacant.
It is significant that Delhi’s Covid positivity rate has fallen each day during the last few days. At the beginning of this month, the city recorded a positivity rate of 31.6, which came down to 28.3 on May 2, followed by a positivity rate of 29.6 on May 3. On May 4, the positivity rate stood at 26.7, on the fifth, this was 26.4 per cent, on the sixth it was 24.29 and on ninth it hit 21.67 and on May 10 it further came down to 19.10 that further came down to less than 17 on May 11.
A senior Government official said that a team of officers is working round the clock to monitor the demand and supply of the oxygen in the national Capital.
“Real time monitoring of oxygen tankers is being done by the team formed by the Government to mitigate the challenges and obstacles in the supply chain management of oxygen in the national Capital. The Delhi Government has also deputed a team of officers to each of the oxygen plants to make sure that there are no glitches and any administrative obstacles in oxygen supply,” he said.
The AAP Government has not only ramped up testing but has also worked relentlessly to increase the number of beds across Delhi during the lockdown.
The Government is also giving an aggressive push to the vaccination drive, which will further help bring down the positivity rate in the coming days.