 "covid")
Three Covid fatalities were recorded in Delhi in a day after over four months while 5,481 fresh cases were logged on Tuesday, the highest since May 16, as the city government announced weekend curfew to curb the contagion driven by the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
According to official data, the case positivity rate mounted to 8.37 per cent. This was the highest since May 17 when it was 8.42 per cent.
Amid the rise in cases, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced a return of the weekend curfew as the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) decided to reimpose some more restrictions in the wake of a fresh surge in Covid infections.
At a press conference, he announced that on weekdays, government employees, barring those engaged in essential services, will be asked to work from home, while private offices will remain open with 50 per cent capacity.
However, buses and metro trains will return to running to their full seating capacity throughout the week as the government feared that bus stops and metro stations could become COVID-19 superspreaders as long queues were seen at such places after the seating capacity was halved.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, however, asked people to not panic while asserting that weekend curfew should not be considered as a lockdown.
The three fatalities recorded on Tuesday are the highest since August 18, when the national capital reported 36 coronavirus cases and four deaths. The fresh fatalities took the death toll in Delhi to 25,113.
The rise in Delhi's Covid cases on Tuesday was the highest since May 16 when the city, in the middle of a lockdown with several restrictions, had recorded 6,456 infections and 262 fatalities with a case positivity rate of 10.4 per cent.
According to official data, 531 COVID-19 patients are admitted to various hospitals. Fourteen patients are on ventilator support, while 168 patients with moderate symptoms are on oxygen support, the health bulletin showed.
The city currently has 14,889 active cases. There are 2,992 containment zones in Delhi.
A total of 308 patients are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and are without oxygen support, it stated. There are 2,992 containment zones.
Nine COVID-19 deaths were reported in the city in December last year, and seven in November. Delhi had recorded four Covid deaths in October and five in September.
A total of 65,487 tests -- 50,461 RT-PCR tests -- were conducted the previous day, the bulletin said.
Delhi on Monday reported 4,099 COVID-19 cases and one fatality while the positivity rate was 6.46 per cent.
The previous day, the city logged 3,194 Covid cases with a positivity rate of 4.59 per cent. On Saturday 2,716 cases with a positivity rate of 3.6 per cent was reported.
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