Delhi logs zero daily Covid cases for first time since pandemic outbreak

Coronavirus killed more than 26,000 people in the city

Out and about with a mask in New Delhi last month. AFP

New Delhi recorded no new cases of Covid-19 on a day when India witnessed lowest daily cases since the disease broke out in the country, health authorities said.

The Delhi Health Department said on Tuesday there were zero infection cases in the city of 22 million in the last 24 hours, the first time this had happened in nearly three years.

“The positivity rate was at 0.0 per cent and the active cases stood at 10 in the city,” the statement said.

The federal health ministry said that just 89 infection cases were reported across the country, the lowest figure since late March 2020.

The country had just over 2,000 active cases, according to the statement, with no deaths reported in the past 24 hours.

India has reported 44 million Covid-19 cases and 530,726 deaths.

India is offering free covid tests at government hospitals and in recent weeks has made a negative covid test mandatory for passengers flying from abroad, particularly China and four other neighbouring Asian countries. It has also issued mandatory quarantine guidelines for passengers that show symptoms of Covid-19 or are tested positive.

The country of 1.4 billion witnessed one of the worst waves of the pandemic in April-May 2021, with millions of people contracting the Delta variant.

Delhi was hit hard by the second wave when thousands of cases caused city’s healthcare system to collapse and graveyards and crematoriums ran out of space.

The virus killed more than 26,000 people in the city.

Health experts credit mass vaccination and herd immunity for decreasing cases amid fears of another wave due to infection outbreaks in China, South Korea and other nations.

Authorities last month started mock drills in hospitals across the country in an effort to step up preparedness to deal with any contingency.