Delhi today reported 1,192 fresh cases of coronavirus infection (Covid-19), which took the cumulative number of such patients to 1,50,652, according to the Delhi government’s latest health bulletin.

The number of tests conducted for detection of Covid today were 15,045 and the count of such tests per million was 67,007. Delhi’s coronavirus tally breached the 1.50-lakh mark 39 days after crossing 1 lakh cases, according to official data.

The Delhi government’s figures indicate that while the national capital recorded its first 50,000 Covid cases in 110 days, the second 50,000 cases came in just 18 days, while the third 50,000 in 39 days. Delhi had reported its first coronavirus case on 1 March, and the tally reached 50,000 on 19 June, taking 110 days.

The 1-lakh mark was breached in the next 18 days, on 6 July. The city’s highest single-day Covid spike came on 23 June when 3,947 cases were reported.

A month later, the number was 1,349, reflecting a pattern of decreasing daily cases, and the figures kept improving. The coronavirus recovery rate, which stood at nearly 36 per cent in June, has now risen to over 89 per cent ~ much higher than the infectious, dreaded disease’s national recovery rate of 71.17 per cent. In June, Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had estimated that the city’s coronavirus count could reach 1 lakh by June-end and 5.5 lakh by July end.

However, Delhi managed to arrest the rise in Covid cases. Experts have attributed such improvement in these figures to ramped-up testing, reworking of the containment strategy and the home-isolation model.

In a statement issued on 4 August, the Delhi government had also said that home-isolation, maximum testing, increase in number of beds and good medical infrastructure have brought down the positivity and mortality rate in Delhi.

The national capital began conducting rapid antigen tests from 18 June and the number of tests went up quickly from about 7,000 a day to more than 20,000. Since the beginning of August, Delhi has seen a fluctuation in daily coronavirus cases, with 8 August recording 1,404 cases, the highest singleday count in nearly two weeks.

The city’s first case was that of a businessman in East Delhi who was diagnosed with Covid19 after returning from Italy. By 18 May, the national capital had reported a total of 10,054 cases at an average of nearly 127 cases daily. Over the next 13 days, the tally rose to 19,844, acording to the Delhi government’s data.

On 1 June, the Covid cases breached the 20,000-mark while on 9 June, the cases crossed 30,000. The cases crossed 40,000 on 14 June. Today’s tally of single-day Covid cases in Delhi was higher than yesterday when the national capital had recorded 956 positive cases of coronavirus infection.

The number of coronavirus tests conducted yesterday were 15,356. The loss of lives due to the coronavirus infection in the city numbered 11 today, which increased the cumulative figure of deaths caused by Covid19 to 4,178. The number of such fatalities in Delhi yesterday was 14.

Today’s health bulletin gave the total number of recovered patients of Covid-19 in the city so far as 1,35,108, including 790 patients discharged from different hospitals over the last 24 hours.

The recovery rate today stood at 89.68 per cent. There were 11,366 coronavirus active cases in Delhi and the number of those hospitalised was 4,292 now. According to the bulletin, Delhi had 5,882 patients undergoing treatment on home isolation.

(With inputs from PTI)