Delhi has been producing a tidal wave of cases over the past days (File)
Delhi's daily Covid cases shot up by 15 per cent on Friday after 17,335 fresh cases were detected in 24 hours. Nine people have died in the national capital in the same period. On Wednesday, the city witnessed its biggest-ever single-day spike in nearly eight months as 10,665 cases were reported in 24 hours.
Delhi's positivity rate - the number of people testing positive for every 100 tests - has jumped to 17.73 per cent with the latest addition in cases. 97,762 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.
The city has been producing a tidal wave of cases over the past days and the surge is believed to be driven by the Omicron variant. The variant is highly transmissible, according to experts.
Earlier in the day, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had predicted Delhi will report over 17,000 cases on Friday. The positivity rate is expected to surge to 17 per cent in Delhi, Mr Jain had said.
Hospitalisations, although have not been concomitant with the spike in cases, the minister said, adding, "Call it mild, something only experts can tell but the hospitalisations have been few." However, the number of patients admitted to hospitals in Delhi has increased from 247 on January 1 to 1,390 on Friday, a whopping 462 per cent jump in a week.
The data is reassuring because even though there are 30,000 active cases, only 24 people are on ventilators, the Health Minister said yesterday, asserting that if Delhi residents follow Covid protocols and abide by the curbs, there will be a significant decrease in the number of infections.
On Thursday, Delhi had reported 15,097 cases of coronavirus - the highest since May 8. Six related deaths were recorded in the same period.
Several Covid restrictions have been imposed in the national capital as the surge continues. A weekend curfew from 10 pm Friday to 5 am Monday has also been put in place. Only essential services will be allowed during these hours.