New Delhi: Delhi recorded 7,897 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, while 39 more people died due to the infection, taking the death toll to 11,235, according to the city Health Department. The positivity rate also mounted to 10.21 per cent, breaching the 10 per cent for the first time this year. The positivity rate mid-November last year had stood above 15 per cent. On Friday, 8,521 cases and 39 deaths were recorded. This was also the first time that over 8,000 cases had been recorded in a day this year amid a massive spike in cases in the span of the last few weeks. The highest single-day spike in Delhi till date — 8,593 cases — was reported on November 11 in 2020, while on November 19, the national capital had recorded 131 COVID-19 deaths, the highest single-day fatality count till date. A total of 77,374 tests, including 43,473 RT-PCR tests and 33,901 rapid antigen tests, were conducted a day ago, according to the latest health bulletin. The number of cumulative cases on Saturday stood at 7,14,423. Over 6.74 lakh patients have recovered from the virus. According to the bulletin, 39 more people died due to the disease, taking the toll to 11,235. The number of active cases rose to 28,773 from 26,631 a day before. The number of people under home isolation increased to 15,266 from 13,188 on Friday, while the number of containment zones mounted to 5,236 on Saturday from 4,768 a day before, the bulletin said. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said lockdown is "not an option" but some restrictions will be put in place in the national Capital which is reeling under the fourth wave of the Coronavirus pandemic. Asked about the vaccination campaign and preparation of the government in the face of rising cases, Kejriwal said, "I have written a letter to the prime minister (Narendra Modi), in which I have said that if adequate doses of the vaccination are made available to us; if we are given permission to increase the number of vaccination centres and if the age limit is removed then within 2-3 months we can vaccinate the entire state". "I cannot talk about the rest of the country, but according to Delhi governments level of preparation, if these three pre-conditions are met, we can assure you that all residents of Delhi will be vaccinated within 2-3 months," Kejriwal asserted. Once everyone is vaccinated, it will greatly aid in containing and ending the severity of the virus, he said. "At the moment, we have vaccination for 7-10 days and the conditions for administering them, particularly the age limit, are very rigid. According to me, there is an impending need to remove these obstacles that are coming in the way of the vaccination campaign," the statement said.

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