The national capital on Wednesday reported a marginal dip in COVID-related deaths with 311 fatalities against 338 a day earlier, while the positivity rate too dropped for the second consecutive day to reach 26.37 per cent, even as a higher number of 20,960 new infections were recorded in the last 24 hours, the Delhi Health Department said.
On Tuesday, the city had reported 19,953 new cases with a positivity rate of 26.73 per cent. Wednesday is the fourth day on the trot that the positivity rate has remained below 30 per cent.
The Delhi government claimed that all-round efforts and aggressive COVID management have resulted in a dramatic decrease in the positivity rate.
"Within just 10 days, Delhi's COVID positivity rate has reduced by 9 per cent. On April 26, Delhi reported a positivity rate of 35 per cent and on May 5, it came down to around 26 per cent," the government said in a statement.
According to official data, the capital registered a positivity rate of 29.56 per cent on Monday, 28.33 per cent on Sunday, 31.6 per cent on Saturday, 32.7 per cent on Friday, 32.8 per cent on Thursday, 31.8 per cent on last Wednesday, 32.7 per cent on last Tuesday, and 35 per cent on last Monday.
On April 22, a positivity rate of 36.2 percent, the highest so far, was recorded.
The city had witnessed 338 deaths on Tuesday, 448 on Monday, the highest so far, 407 on Sunday, 412 on Saturday, 375 on Friday, 395 on Thursday, 368 on last Wednesday, 381 on last Tuesday, 380 on last Monday, and 350 on last Sunday.
Delhi had reported 19,953 cases on Tuesday, 18,043 cases on Monday, the lowest since April 15, 20,394 cases on Sunday, 25,219 on Saturday, 27,047 on Friday, 24,235 on Thursday, 25,986 on Wednesday, 24,149 on last Tuesday, 20,201 on last Monday and 22,933 on last Sunday.
The government said that during the last 10 days, the case positivity rate of COVID-19 has dropped by approximately 1 per cent each day.
"During these days, the Delhi government has not only ramped up testing, but also worked relentlessly in increasing the number of beds across Delhi," it said in the statement.
"The government is also giving an aggressive push to the vaccination drive, which will further help bring down the positivity rate in the coming days," it added.
Meanwhile, AAP MLA Raghav Chadha said Delhi received 555 tonnes of oxygen on Tuesday, the highest till now, as the city hospitals struggled with a shortage in the supply of the life-saving gas amid a spurt in coronavirus cases.
He also said the Delhi government received 48 SOS calls regarding oxygen shortage and cylinders not being refilled, and they were addressed.
