Kejriwal extends lockdown even as Delhi records 1,649 fresh COVID-19 cases, lowest since March 30

Even as Delhi reported 1,649 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest one-day count since March 30, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday extended the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown in the national capital by one more week till May 31.

According to Delhi Health Department bulletin, the city reported 189 deaths due to the disease in the last 24 hours. The total death toll has gone up to 23,202.

"Now the wave is weakening visibly. We haven't won yet but we may be taking control of the wave. In 24 hours, the positivity rate is below 2.42 per cent. At one point we were reported 28,000 cases daily. Now in 24 hours we have reported 1,600 cases," Kejriwal said.

The COVID-19 situation in Delhi has been improving with the city registering a drop in the number of cases and positivity rate in recent days as Delhi on Sunday reported the lowest number of new cases since March 30 this year, when 992 fresh cases were reported.

The positivity rate has declined to 2.42 per cent which is the lowest since March 28 when the same was recorded at 2.35 per cent.The metropolis now has 27,610 active cases which is the lowest number since April 9 when the tally of active cases was 26,631. The total count of cases in the city stands at 14,18,868.

The city is under lockdown for almost a month and the number of new cases and positivity rate is declining in the city for the past few days.

The health bulletin said 5,158 patients recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours taking the cumulative number of recoveries to 13,66,056.

It said that 68,043 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours of which 46,745 were RT-PCR tests while 21,298 were rapid antigen tests.

The case fatality rate stands at 1.64 per cent and the cumulative positivity rate at 7.57 per cent.The bulletin said that 64,319 people were vaccinated in the last 24 hours of which 44,752 took their first dose and 19,567 took second does of the vaccine.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had on Saturday said that COVID-19 vaccination for 18-44 age group has been halted from Saturday as vaccine stock for the category has been consumed. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister had written to the central government and sought more vaccines.

( With inputs from ANI )