In the month of June Delhi was head-to-head with Mumbai in number of confirmed coronavirus cases, with a number of stories of ICU beds running out, people dying due to lack of care and signs of an overwhelmed healthcare system. The city-state's testing policy and strategy came under heavy attack as the daily number crossed the 3000-4000 mark.
In the last week, Delhi has seen a steady decline in daily confirmed cases of COVID-19, even as testing has increased.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Data, as of 27 July, Delhi had recorded a total of 1,30,606 cases of which 1,14,875 had recovered. 3,827 people lost their lives. As of 27 July, the city has 11,904 active cases.
In the last two weeks, the number of cases in the city have seen a steady decline.
20 July to 26 July - Tracing Delhi's Coronavirus Numbers
The last seven day, Delhi's daily reported cases were just above 1000, except on 20 July, when the city recorded the lowest number of cases in the month at 954.
While in the third week of July, Delhi recorded daily coronavirus cases in the range of 1200 to 1600, in the fourth week, the numbers were in the range of 950 to 1350.
Compared to the last week of June, the numbers have nearly halved.
Experts chalk this drop to two possible scenarios - Delhi has actually managed to bring the number of coronavirus cases under control, or the new antigen testing that Delhi has introduced might be missing several cases of coronavirus.
Recovery and Death Rate
While recovery of patients has naturally improved, deaths have also gone down. The Delhi government is already patting its back on the state's response. In an interview with Economic Times, Delhi's CM Arvind Kejriwal referenced the sero surveillance done in the city between 27 June to 10 July. According that survey, nearly 22.8% of the state has developed antibodies against the virus in the last 6 months. In 8 out of 11 zones in the state, nearly 20% of the population may have antibodies against the virus. In Shahadra, Central, North and East Delhi, the number is nearly 27%.
The government has said that it will carry out these surveys month on month to track the virus. According to the state health minister Satyendar Jain, the first survey was conducted in the city's containment zones, the second one was in both containment and other zones and now a third survey will get underway.
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