Delhi likely to report 20K Covid cases today: Satyandar Jain

New Delhi: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the national capital is likely to report around 20,000 new Covid cases on Saturday, adding that the positivity rate might increase by 1-2 per cent.

"We have only 10 per cent occupancy in hospitals currently and around 90 per cent beds are unoccupied," Jain said while addressing the media.

He said that during the last surge when about 40,000 active cases were reported, the hospital occupancy was six times more than now.

During the last surge when the Covid daily caseload was around 17,000, a total 200 fatalities had been reported. However, this year with a 17,000 caseload, only nine deaths have been reported, the Minister added.

Regarding healthcare workers testing positive for the virus, Jain said that the situation is not alarming, adding: "Out of lakhs of healthcare workers in Delhi, if thousands have tested positive for Covid, the situation cannot be alarming."

The Delhi government has trained around 5,000 health assistants to fight the staff crunch in the absence of medical personnel in hospitals.

Jain said that they have been given basic training and the government will press for their services if the need arises.

He also informed that a Delhi Disaster Management Authority meeting is scheduled to take place on Monday where the authority may decide to further strengthen the restrictions in the national capital.

On Friday evening, Delhi reported 17,335 new Covid cases, the highest single-day rise after May 8, 2021 when the tally was 17,364.

The new cases have pushed the overall infection tally to 15,06,798 in the city.

The death toll increased to 25,136 after nine new fatalities were reported.