Delhi Reports 89 New Covid Cases, Fewest Since April Last Year

Delhi's daily Covid case count dropped below the 100-mark today, with the national capital clocking 89 cases and 11 deaths over the past 24 hours. This is the lowest daily case count Delhi has recorded since April last year.

The positivity rate dipped to 0.16 per cent, the lowest since the pandemic began. As many as 57,128 samples were tested over the past 24 hours. The total number of samples tested so far is 2,08,31,799.

The number of active cases in the national capital currently stands at 1,996 and the recovery rate is 98.12 per cent.

The 11 deaths reported over the past 24 hours has taken the total Covid death count in Delhi to 24,925.

Delhi has been witnessing a steady decline in daily Covid case counts since the surge in infections in the last week of April that put the medical infrastructure under severe strain as people struggled to find hospital beds and oxygen cylinders.

On April 21, Delhi reported its highest single-day spike of 28,395 cases recorded in a span of 24 hours.

To arrest the spike, the Delhi government had imposed a strict lockdown in the national capital, putting in place stringent curbs on public movement and other activities.

With the cases declining, the government has lifted many of these curbs, with the latest such order allowing bars, public parks and gardens to open. Earlier, malls and market complexes were given a go-ahead to reopen.

Since the unlocking began, several visuals of crowded markets and malls and of people flouting Covid norms such as distancing and wearing of masks have emerged on the social media. These have prompted experts to warn of a third wave of Covid infections in the national capital.

Words of caution have also come from the Delhi High Court.

Taking note of the violations of Covid norms, the court has warned that breach of Covid protocol will only hasten the third wave and sought a status report on the unlocking from the centre and Delhi government.

"We have paid a huge price in the second wave. We don't know if there is any household which has not suffered in the second wave, closely or remotely," the bench has observed last week. "Such breach will only hasten the third wave, which is likely to come and this cannot be permitted," it added. The court will take up the matter again on July 9.