COURTESY HT OCT 26

Positivity rate shoots up in Delhi, cases rise
Jamie Mullick

jamie.mullick@htlive.com

New Delhi : The positivity rate for Covid-19 tests in Delhi rose to 8.43% and new infections crossed the 4,000-mark for the third consecutive day, trends that suggested a resurgence of the viral disease in the national Capital at a time when more people are out because of the festive season.

Daily positivity rate — the fraction of tests that return positive – was at its highest in 34 days, sending the weekly average positivity rate rising again.

Experts see positivity rate as a crucial metric to assess an outbreak in a community and, when this number is coupled with an increase in new cases, it can determine how fast a contagious disease is spreading.

New confirmed cases stood at 4,136, according to the Delhi government’s health bulletin on Sunday. This is the highest in 38 days. The total number of infections in the Capital is now at 356,656, while 33 new fatalities have taken the Covid-19 death toll to 6258.

The seven-day average positivity rate is now at 6.84% and has been rising for 13 consecutive days; it is now at its highest in nearly a month (it was 6.95% on September 27). This number was 5.88% the week before, and 5.49% the week before that.

According to recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO), the positivity rate from a region that has a comprehensive testing programme should be at or below 5% for at least two weeks before an outbreak is considered under control