New Delhi: Delhi, which has been seeing a gradual rise in Covid-19 cases since last week, recorded 299 infections on Wednesday -- a rise of nearly 50 per cent since the previous day.
The positivity rate stood at 2.49 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
Active cases in the national capital stand at 841, with 173 people recovering from Covid-19 on Wednesday. On a positive note, no Covid-related deaths were registered in the past 25 hours.
As many as 504 Covid-19 patients are in home isolation in the capital, the bulletin stated. There are 9,745 beds for Covid patients in Delhi hospitals and 43 (0.44 per cent) of them are occupied, it said.
Delhi reported a positivity rate of 2.70 per cent on Monday, the highest in the last two months, triggering concerns about the resurgence of Covid-19 in the capital. The national capital registered 137 cases on Monday.
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The rise in cases comes amid concerns over the highly transmissible XE Covid variant, which has created panic worldwide over a fourth wave of infections.
The XE Covid variant, a combination or recombinant of Omicron sub-variants — BA.1 and BA.2, is being blamed for a surge in cases in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, UK and Germany. In India, two states -- Maharashtra and Gujarat -- claimed to have detected a case of XE Covid variant each.
On Tuesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the government was keeping a close watch on the Covid situation in the capital and there was no major reason to panic at present.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had said there was no reason to worry until a new variant of concern was detected.
"We are keeping an eye on hospital admissions and they are going down. Focus shouldn’t be on positivity rate much as of now," Jain had said.