The positivity rate, however, has almost halved in the city. (File)
Delhi on Saturday recorded 45 deaths in the last 24 hours - highest number of deaths in a single day after June 5 which saw 68 fatalities - due to COVID-19.
The city logged 11,486 cases, which is seven per cent higher than Friday's numbers (10,756). The spike in cases comes with the increase in the number of tests - from 59,629 to 70,226 in a day. The positivity rate, however, has almost halved in a week with 30.64 per cent on January 15 to 16.36 per cent on Saturday.
With the fresh cases, the total infection tally in the national capital has risen to 17,82,514 and the death count has increased to 25,586.
On Friday, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal turned down a proposal approved by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for lifting the weekend curfew and odd-even basis of opening of shops till further improvement in the pandemic situation. He, however, agreed to the Delhi government's recommendation to allow 50 per cent attendance in private offices.
COVID-19 cases in the national capital have seen a marked decline over the past few days - from a peak of nearly 30,000 on January 14 to less than 12,000 on Saturday, but the daily fatalities trend in the city needs to be watched for the next few days to ascertain if the death count has reached its peak, medical experts cautioned on Friday.
The city still has 58,593 active Covid cases, however, 44,415 of these are in home isolation, which reduces the burden placed on the national capital's medical infrastructure.