From 54,000 on April 27, home isolation cases in Delhi plummet to 252

Amid marked improvement in the coronavirus situation in Delhi, the number of people under home quarantine here has fallen to a low of 252 from over 54,000 on April 27 when the second wave was wreaking havoc in the capital.

According to official figures, the number of active cases too has come down from a record high of 99,752 on April 28 to 743 on July 11.

The positivity rate on Sunday dipped to 0.07 per cent, and other metrics, such as the number of daily cases and deaths and the count of containment zones too have significantly come down in the past several weeks.

 

Delhi had been reeling under a brutal second wave of the pandemic, claiming a massive number of lives daily, with the oxygen supply shortage issue during April-May at various hospitals, adding to the woes.

As the cases mounted, the Delhi government imposed a lockdown, starting April 19.

Since April 19, both daily cases and single-day deaths count had been spiralling up, with 28,395 cases and 277 deaths recorded on April 20; rising to 306 fatalities on April 22. On May 3, the city registered a record 448 deaths, according to official data.

On April 20, the city had recorded 40,124 people under home isolation while active cases tally was 85,575 and containment zones count being 17,151.

The metric spiralled up in a week's time, with 53,819 people under home isolation in Delhi on April 28, and 99,752 active cases and 25,985 daily cases.

In the beginning of the month, the daily cases and home isolation cases had stood at 2,790 and 5,698 respectively on April 1, while there were 10,498 active cases and 2,183 containment zones.

As the second wave spelt mayhem in the city in April, all metrics shot up, and on April 27, the city had a record 54,578 people under home isolation, as per the official data shared by the city health department.

The positivity rate on April 27 had skyrocketed to 32.72 per cent when 24,149 cases and 381 deaths were reported in the national capital, with 98,264 active cases and 31,570 containment zones.

However, several metrics have come down in the last few weeks, and on July 11, the positivity rate dipped to 0.07 per cent while 53 cases, the lowest since April 15, and three deaths were recorded.

While daily cases and death counts are steadily falling and positivity rate shrinking, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has cautioned that the chances of the third wave of the pandemic was "quite real" and said that it was working on a war-footing to combat it.

On May 15, he had said, "The virus is reducing in Delhi slowly and steadily, and I hope it diminishes completely and does not rise again. However, we are not going to become negligent in anyway", while sounding a tone of caution.

On May 28, the city saw 1,141 cases and 14,581 active cases while 7,111 people were under home isolation and containment zones count stood at 22,701.

The daily cases count came down to 212 on June 16 when the home isolation count was 781, with 2,749 active cases and 6,169 containment zones, as per the official data.

Following the decline in cases, the Delhi government started the unlock process from early June in a phased wise manner.

Notwithstanding the improved coronavirus situation, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Friday passed a colour-coded response action plan under which curbs will be implemented in accordance with the severity of the COVID-19 situation here to deal with a possible third wave of the pandemic.

Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal last Wednesday had inaugurated a genome-sequencing laboratory at the ILBS hospital here and said the people of Delhi will highly benefit from this facility.

This is the second such laboratory in Delhi, and a much advanced one than inaugurated by Kejriwal on Tuesday at LNJP Hospital here. He had said that it will detect the lethality of the coronavirus variants and help the government prepare accordingly.