Omicron in India: Mumbai, Delhi witness dip in daily Covid-19 cases

Both Mumbai and Delhi, on Friday, recorded a significant dip in the number of daily cases. Mumbai reported 11,317 new cases, a drop of 17.60 percent from the previous day, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

At the same time, the city also recorded nine fresh deaths linked to COVID-19, the highest single-day fatalities since August 11, 2021. With these additions, the financial capital's coronavirus tally rose to 9,81,306, while the death toll increased to 16,435, a BMC bulletin said. This was the second consecutive day when Mumbai witnessed a dip in daily coronavirus infections. The city had reported 13,702 COVID-19 cases and six fatalities on Thursday. It means the metropolis has recorded a 17.60 percent drop in cases, or 2,385 less, in the last 24 hours. 

As for the national capital, Delhi recorded 24,383 COVID-19 cases, a 15.5 percent decline from a day earlier, even as the positivity rate mounted to 30.64 percent, indicating that every third sample collected for a coronavirus test returned a positive report in the past 24 hours.

Thirty-four fatalities were also reported on Friday, according to data shared by the Delhi health department.

On Thursday, 28,867 COVID-19 cases were reported, which was the sharpest single-day spike since the beginning of the pandemic, when the city had conducted 98,832 tests.

However, Friday's figure of coronavirus cases came out of 79,578 tests, with a senior government official saying the drop in cases may be due to lower testing.

According to the data, the positivity rate recorded on Friday is the highest since May 1 last year when it was 31.61 percent. In the last 24 hours, 26,236 COVID-19 patients have also recovered from the virus, it said.