Amid a nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases, Delhi on New Year eve (Friday, 31 December) reported 1,796 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of active cases in the national capital to 4,410. This is being reported as a 36% jump from the previous day.
The positivity rate in the city also rose to 2.44%.
Mumbai, meanwhile, saw a 47% rise in daily COVID cases, reporting 5,428 new cases. The state of Maharashtra, in total, reported 8,067 new Coronavirus infections.
Earlier in the evening, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava wrote to the chief secretaries of all states/UTs on Friday, asking them to set up round-the-clock functional Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) booths at different locations, engage medical and paramedical staff, and encourage the use of home test kits.
The health ministry further said:
"Any individual presenting with fever with or without cough, headache, sore throat, breathlessness, body ache, the recent loss of taste or smell, fatigue, and diarrhoea should be considered as a suspect case of COVID-19 unless proven otherwise.”
(With inputs from ANI.)
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