The national capital Delhi saw both daily new Covid-19 infections and deaths come down during the 24 hours to Saturday, bringing slight respite to the city ravaged by the second wave of the pandemic since the beginning of this month.

While new Covid-19 infections declined to 17,364 as of Saturday, the number of Covid-19 deaths stood at 332, according to the latest Delhi State Health Bulletin issued on Saturday. On the previous day, Delhi saw new infections of 19,832 and daily deaths of 341. As many as 19,071 people in Delhi have lost their lives since the beginning of the pandemic last year.

However, the test positivity rate stood at an alarming 23.34 per cent, which indicates that every one in four persons tested is Covid-19 positive. The little solace is that the daily test positivity rate was above 30 per cent till a few days back.

On a cumulative basis, the test positivity rate stood at 7.38 per cent, much higher than the 5 per cent mark. The number of active cases has seen a decline to 87,907 from 91,035 on the previous day. In the 24 hours to Saturday, Delhi conducted 74,384 tests, lower than 79,593 tests on the previous day.

Nearly 37.46 lakh persons have been vaccinated in Delhi so far since the vaccination drive commenced in India on January 16 this year. The number of beneficiaries vaccinated in the last 24 hours stood at 79,800, the Delhi Health Bulletin showed. The total number of containment zones as on date stood at 51,338.

Delhi commenced vaccination for the 18-44 year age group from May 3. On an average about 50,000 people are being vaccinated every day in this age group. Delhi has 92 lakh people in the 18-44 years age group. Nearly 50,000 vaccination doses are being given daily to those above 45 years, according to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.