17 fresh Covid cases in Delhi, the lowest since April 15 last year

The city reported only 17 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, the fewest cases in a day April 15 last year, when 17 cases were recorded. The last time new cases were below this number was on March 28 last year when the city saw just nine new infections.

To be sure, fewer tests are conducted on Sunday (which also coincided with Rakshabandhan) -- 46,251 according to the Delhi government’s health bulletin as against an average of 60,326 tests each day over the previous seven days.

The first case of the viral infection in the city was reported on March 2 last year, and there have been four waves in the Capital since then. At the peak of the fourth wave of infections between April and May this year, Delhi added an average of 25,924 fresh infections everyday.

Monday’s health bulletin also recorded no fresh deaths of the infection for the fourth straight day.

The Capital has added four deaths of the infection over the past seven days.

Experts believe that the worst is now over for Delhi.

“The numbers have drastically reduced -- not because of anything anybody did. Most of the population has now been exposed to the infection. Some states like Kerala that struggled to block the spread of the infection are now experiencing a longer epidemic. But the benefit is that they lost fewer lives,” said Jayaprakash Muliyil, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the National Institute of Epidemiology.