NEW DELHI: In the backdrop of rising coronavirus cases in Delhi, state Health Minister Satyendar Jain has said that the national capital is currently passing through a “third wave” of the pandemic and asserted that the cases will “soon come down”.
Jain’s statement comes at a time when nearly 7,000 new coronavirus cases were coming up daily in Delhi, making the situation “worst so far”. In all, 6,953 new cases were recorded on Saturday, taking the cumulative tally to 4,30,784 cases that included 6,912 deaths.
However, since 3,83,614 patients have recovered, there are now 40,258 active cases in Delhi. Jain also said on Saturday that the Delhi government had filed a special leave petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court after the High Court did not allow reservation of 80 per cent ICU beds for COVID-19 patients in several private hospitals here.
Delhi’s test positivity rate stood at 12.11 per cent amid the festive season and rising pollution, according to latest Health Department bulletin based on a 24-hour report. The previous highest single-day spike till date in Delhi — 7,178 cases — was recorded on Friday. The number of daily cases had crossed the 6,000-mark for four consecutive days from November 3-6.
Seventy-nine new fatalities were recorded, pushing the death toll in the national capital to 6,912 on Saturday. Sixty-four COVID fatalities were reported on Friday.