Covid-19: Delhi logs 255 new cases, 23 more deaths; CM announces easing of more curbs

New Delhi, June 13

The national capital recorded 255 new Covid-19 cases and 23 fatalities, the lowest since April 7, on Sunday, even as the Delhi government announced to lift curbs on restaurants and weekly markets partially from June 14.

The positivity rate stood at 0.35 per cent, according to the latest health bulletin.

Delhi has recorded 14,31,139 Covid-19 cases and 24,823 fatalities due to the disease since it began ravaging countries last year. Over 14 lakh patients have recovered from the infection, the bulletin said.

Delhi had reported 213 cases, the lowest since March 9, on Saturday; 238 cases on Friday, 305 cases on Thursday and 337 cases on Wednesday.

The city had recorded 28 deaths on Saturday, 24 on Friday, 44 on Thursday and 36 on Wednesday. The positivity rate stood at 0.3 percent on Saturday and Friday, 0.4 percent on Thursday and 0.5 percent on Wednesday, according to government data.

The infection rate, which had reached 36 per cent in the last week of April, has come down to below one per cent now.

The Delhi government on Sunday announced reopening of restaurants with 50 per cent capacity and one weekly market per municipal zone from June 14.

Salons, beauty parlors, barber shops closed since imposition of lockdown on April 19, will also reopen from Monday, officials said.

However, schools, colleges, educational and coaching institutes, cinema halls, multiplexes, theatres, gyms, spas, Yoga institutes, swimming pools, auditoriums, banquet halls, amusement and water parks, and public parks and gardens will continue to be closed till 5 am on June 21, according to an order issued by Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

Delhi had been reeling under a brutal second wave of the pandemic that had swept the country, claiming a massive number of lives daily, with oxygen supply shortage adding to the woes.

Since April 19, both daily cases and single-day deaths count had been spiraling up, with over 28,000 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.

However, the number of cases has shown a downward trend and the positivity rate too has been shrinking in the last several days. The number of deaths per day has also been showing a decline in the last couple of days.

A total of 72,751 tests, including 53,885 RT-PCR tests, were conducted a day ago, according to the health bulletin on Sunday.

The number of active cases decreased to 3,466 from 3,610 on Saturday, according to the bulletin.

The number of people under home isolation dipped to 1,037 from 1,123 on Saturday while the number of containment zones dropped to 6,782 from 7,062 a day before, the bulletin said. — PTI