Over 800 Covid cases in Delhi for 3rd day in row; death toll at 10,963

The national capital reported over 800 coronavirus cases for the third day on the trot on Monday, while seven people succumbed to viral disease, the highest since Feb 4, the Health Department said.

The national capital reported over 800 coronavirus cases for the third day on the trot on Monday, while seven people succumbed to viral disease, the highest since February 4, the Health Department said.

The number of active cases rose to 3,934 from 3,618 a day ago, while the case positivity remained over 1 per cent for the third consecutive day, according to a bulletin.

The 888 new infections, the highest in nearly three months, pushed the tally of COVID-19 cases reported in the city till now to 6,48,872, while 6.33 lakh patients have recovered from the disease.

Delhi had registered 823 cases on Sunday, 813 on Saturday, 716 on Friday, 607 on Thursday, 536 on Wednesday and 425 on Tuesday, according to official data.

The number of fatalities in the national capital linked to COVID-19 has risen to 10,963 with seven people dying from the pathogen in a day. The was the highest since February 4 when a similar number of fatalities were recorded.

A total of 67,418 tests, including 48,981 RT-PCR, were conducted on Sunday, as the positivity rate rose to 1.32 from 1.03 per cent a day ago, the bulletin said.

The number of people under home isolation rose to 2,067 from 1,893 a day ago while containment zones increased to 805 from 766 on Sunday.

The COVID-19 caseload in Delhi on January 1 had stood at over 6.25 lakh and total fatalities were 10,557.

The number of daily cases had started to come down in February. On February 26, the month's highest daily count of 256 cases was recorded. However, the daily cases have begun to rise again in March and it has been steadily increasing over the past few days.

Health experts and doctors have attributed this "sudden rise" in cases to people turning complacent, not following COVID-appropriate behaviour and "assuming all is well now".