Delhi has reported a total of 2,376 confirmed Covid-19 cases — 1,518 active cases and 50 deaths — according to the health ministry and Delhi government update on Friday.
Two new clusters of coronavirus emerged in Delhi on Thursday after 46 cases were reported in Jahangirpuri and 11 in Old Delhi, according to reports.
“Total 46 people living in H-block of Jahangirpuri tested positive for Covid-19. This area was already sealed after detailed screening was carried out and samples taken,” North Delhi District Magistrate Deepak Shinde was quoted as saying by PTI.
Jahangirpuri district officials told Hindustan Times that the 46 people have been shifted to a quarantine facility in Narela and they have started the contact tracing exercise.
Meanwhile, 11 members of a family, including a two-month-old child, living in a containment zone near the Jama Masjid, have also tested positive for coronavirus, official said, NDTV reported.
Test developed by IIT Delhi gets ICMR nod
A method to detect Covid-19, which will significantly reduce the cost of testing, developed by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi has got the approval from the ICMR, officials said.
The current testing methods available are “probe-based” while the one developed by the IIT team is a “probe-free” method, which reduces the testing cost without compromising on accuracy, officials said.
“The test method has been approved by ICMR. The assay has been validated at ICMR with a sensitivity and specificity of 100%. This makes IITD the first academic institute to have obtained ICMR approval for a real-time PCR-based diagnostic assay,” a senior official told PTI. — PTI
300 shops in Azadpur market shut
Nearly 300 shops in Delhi’s Azadpur mandi have been shut after a trader, who tested positive for coronavirus, died. The decision to shut a portion of the market was taken after two new cases were reported on Wednesday, according to NDTV.