Delhi, Mumbai record massive Covid surge despite curbs

In a massive surge, Delhi on Saturday recorded 2,716 fresh Covid cases, the highest single-day rise since May 21, and one death while the positivity rate mounted to 3.64 per cent, according to data shared by the city's health department.

Meanwhile, Mumbai reported 6,347 new COVID-19 cases, taking the caseload in the city to 7,91,457, a civic official said.

Mumbai's Saturday Covid count is the highest since the 5,888 cases witnessed on April 24 this year during the second wave, the official said. The death toll increased by one to reach 16,377.

Delhi's tally of coronavirus cases was 51 per cent higher than the figures registered a day before.

On Friday and Thursday, 1,796 and 1,313 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 1.73 per cent and 2.44 per cent respectively, as per official figures.

The daily case count in Delhi breached the 2,000-mark after a gap of over seven months, as 2,716 new cases were logged with an increased positivity rate of 3.64 per cent, as per the latest health bulletin.

This rise is the highest since May 21 when 3,009 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 4.76 per cent, while 252 deaths were also reported on that day.

The huge spike in fresh cases in the span of the last few days in Delhi is being recorded amid a significant jump in cases of new Omicron variant of Covid in the city.

The death toll due to coronavirus in Delhi has risen to 25,108. On Wednesday, Tuesday and Monday the daily cases tally had stood at 923, 496 and 331, respectively, as per official data.

The number of cumulative cases on Saturday stood at 14,50,927. Over 14.19 lakh patients have recovered from the infection.

Nine COVID-19 deaths were reported in Delhi in December last year, and seven in November, according to official data.

Delhi had recorded four Covid deaths in October and five in September.

A total of 74,622 tests -- 64,623 RT-PCR tests and 9,999 rapid antigen tests -- were conducted on Friday, the bulletin said.

Meanwhile in Mumbai, 451 people were discharged from hospitals on Saturday, taking the recovery count to 7,50,158.

The active case tally stood at 22,334, a sharp rise from 16,441 the day earlier.

However, only 2,760 of 30,565 hospital beds in Mumbai are occupied, as per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data.

Mumbai's overall recovery rate is 95 per cent, the official said.

The city's doubling rate is now 251 days, he said.

The growth rate of cases during December 25- December 31 is 0.28 per cent, he added.

Mumbai had reported 1,377 cases on Tuesday, 2,510 on Wednesday, 3,671 on Thursday and 5,631 on Friday.