New Delhi Apr 25 PTI The number of coronavirus patients in home isolation in the national capital has seen an over six-fold increase from 447 on April 11 to 2812 on April 24 according to official dataThe number of patients admitted in hospitals also increased from 17 to 80 during the period However the Delhi government has assured people that despite the rise in cases the hospitalisation rate has remained lowThe city is witnessing a spurt in COVID-19 cases over the past few days with the number of active cases increasing to 3975 from 601 on April 11The hospitalisation rate however has so far been low accounting for less than three per cent of the total active cases according to the dataChief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been reiterating that even though the cases have risen the hospitalisation rate has been lowThe number of patients in home isolation stood at 504 on April 13 and saw a significant increase to 574 the next day and to 685 on April 15 It breached the 700 mark on April 16 and rose to 964 on April 17The numbers crossed the 1000 mark on April 18 to settle at 1188 and and to 1274 the next day As many as 1574 patients were recuperating in home isolation on April 20 while the numbers inched close to the 2000 mark the next day While cases have seen a rapid increase the number of containment zones has more or less remained constant and has not seen any significant increase the official data shows The number of such zones has declined from 741 on April 11 to 656 on April 24The number of daily Covid cases in Delhi had touched the record high of 28867 on January 13 during the third wave of the pandemicThe city had recorded a positivity rate of 306 per cent on January 14 the highest during the third wave which was largely driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus Experts have attributed the rise in cases to human behaviour and said thatthere is little reason to worry as most of the population has immunity either because of vaccinations or previous infectionsThe Delhi government had lifted the mask mandate earlier this month but within three weeks brought it back making it mandatory for people to wear masks at public places and imposed a fine of Rs 500 for violation PTI SLB ANB ANB

New Delhi Mar 21 PTI Delhiites woke up to a warm Monday morning and the minimum temperature settled at 205 degrees Celsius four notches above the seasons averageThe relative humidity at 830 am was 77 per centThe weather department has predicted clear sky for the day The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 37 degrees CelsiusThe national capital recorded a maximum temperature of 383 degrees Celsius on Sunday eight notches above the normal and highest for the city so far this season according to the India Meteorological Department IMDThe minimum temperature was recorded at 212 degrees Celsius five notches above the seasons normalThe air quality of the national capital was recorded in the poor category as the air quality index AQI stood at 232 around 7 amAn AQI between zero and 50 is considered good 51 and 100 satisfactory 101 and 200 moderate 201 and 300 poor 301 and 400 very poor and 401 and 500 severe PTI SLB ANB ANB

New Delhi Jan 28 PTI The Delhi University has issued a notification stating that MPhil will be discontinued from the next academic session in line with the National Education Policy-2020The university will be implementing the policy from 2022-23However a section of teachers criticised the move to discontinue the degree saying it will be disadvantageous for students who are not economically strong and even for womenIn a notification issued on January 27 the varsity said MPhil programmes being run in various departments of the University of Delhi will be discontinued from 2022-23 in line with the National Education Policy NEP 2020There wont be any new admissions to MPhil programmes while students who are already enrolled will continue to study the course according to a university officialFormer Executive Council member Abha Dev Habib said NEP-2020 is all about widening the gap between the haves and have nots Either commit to doing a PhD or remain without a research degree The NEP which is floating on advertisement of choice is taking away real choices which students had Students with disadvantageous backgrounds looked up to MPhil as a research degree they could afford before going towards teaching jobs This degree MPhil is being discontinued not because of any organic need of the system but because of NEP-2020 she saidHabib said as opposed to PhD MPhil is a short-term research degree for students which provides them an exposure to research work and adds to their curriculum vitaeSocial scientists believe that students with MPhil did better in their PhDs she saidJNU professor Ayesha Kidwai in a Facebook post said there is a gender dimension to the MPhil abolition as wellShe said that since 20122013 MPhil enrolment has consistently had a majority of women currently verging on about 60 per cent This is also the one degree that the NEP-2020 recommends must be eliminated from the education system with immediate effect without any pretence even at consultation with stakeholders Kidwai saidMPhil is often the only research degree that women as well as other disadvantaged sections can pursue PhD degrees require an investment of time and a loss of earnings that patriarchal society lets only a few afford and the need for its immediate abolition is difficult to fathom she saidQuestioning the rationale behind the discontinuation of MPhil she said the announcement signals how womens participation in formulating and studying research questions and in the labour force of the education sector is of little significance to educational policy-makersAcademic Council member Mithuraaj Dhusiya said that the MPhil course over several generations has played an important role in the Delhi University and other Indian universities in developing research aptitude through robust course work and introduction to higher researchMPhil research degree has been a degree by itself separate from and at the same time above Masters degree It is extremely unfortunate that the NEP-2020 discontinues MPhil he added PTI SLB ANB ANB

New Delhi Jan 21 PTI Delhi logged 10756 Covid cases in a single day and 38 more fatalities due to the infection while the positivity rate declined to 1804 per cent according to data shared by the city health department on FridayAs many as 434 people have succumbed to the disease so far in JanuaryAccording to officials 59629 Covid tests were conducted on Thursday as against 57290 a day agoDelhi on Thursday reported 12306 Covid cases and 43 fatalities while the positivity rate was 2148 per centOn Wednesday the city had logged 35 deaths and 13785 Covid cases with a positivity rate of 2386 per centIt had recorded 28867 Covid cases last Thursday the sharpest single-day spike since the beginning of the pandemic The number then declined to 24383 on Friday 20718 on Saturday 18286 on Sunday 12527 on Monday and 11684 on TuesdayThe positivity rate stood at 306 per cent on Saturday the highest in the ongoing wave of the pandemic so far 279 per cent on Sunday 28 per cent on Monday and 225 per cent on TuesdayThere are 15557 beds for Covid patients in Delhi hospitals and 2656 1707 per cent of them are occupied A total of 2656 Covid patients are in hospitals and 156 of them are on ventilator support the health department bulletin statedOf the 61954 active Covid cases in Delhi 48356 are recovering in home isolation it saidSince last week Health Minister Satyendar Jain has been saying that hospital admissions have stabilised in the national capital and the third wave has plateauedThe Delhi government on Thursday capped the rate of conventional RT-PCR tests in private hospitals and laboratories at Rs 300 reducing the price by 40 per cent according to an orderEarlier the test used to cost Rs 500Rapid antigen tests at private facilities will cost Rs 100 the order statedEarlier it used to cost Rs 300 PTI SLB ANB ANB

New Delhi Dec 28 PTI The national capital has reported 496 fresh COVID-19 cases in a day the highest since June 4 with the positivity rate rising to 089 per cent along with one fatality due to the infection according to data shared by the health department here on TuesdayOn June 4 Delhi recorded 523 fresh COVID-19 cases and 50 fatalities while the positivity rate stood at 068 per cent official figures statedDelhi on Monday recorded 331 fresh COVID-19 cases the highest single-day rise since June 9 and one death while the positivity rate mounted to 068 per cent according to the dataOn Tuesday cases rose to 496 while the positivity rate went up to 089 per cent The death toll due to the coronavirus infection in Delhi rose to 25107 it saidThe cumulative case tally rose to 1444179On Sunday Delhi recorded 290 cases with a positivity rate of 055 per cent and one fatality according to official figuresOn Saturday and on Friday the daily case counts were 249 and 180 respectively PTI SLB ANB ANB

New Delhi Dec 27 PTI After staying in the severe category for six days Delhis air quality improved to the poor category on Monday following rains a day before while the maximum temperature settled at 226 degrees Celsius two notches above the seasons averageThe 24-hour air quality index AQI of Delhi read 283 at 4 pm The AQIs of its neighbouring cities -- Faridabad 260 Ghaziabad 212 Gurugram 250 Greater Noida 242 and Noida 226 -- were also recorded in the poor categoryThe governments air quality forecast agency SAFAR said that the AQI improved on Monday due to last night rain that scavenged particulate matter through wet depositionOn Tuesday winds are likely to be low reducing ventilation of pollutants with the AQI expected to be very poor the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research SAFAR saidOn 29th Wednesday improvement is expected due to high easterly winds that enhances ventilation of pollutants Mixing layer height continues to be low less than 10 km and minimum temperature tends to drop gradually The net effect is that AQI remains to be within very poor till 31st December and from 1st January onwards it is likely to improve to poor it saidThe AQI was recorded in the severe category on Sunday evening at 459 according to Central Pollution Control Board CPCB data On Monday morning it was 373The citys 24-hour average AQI read 431 at 4 pm on Saturday It was 415 on Friday 423 on Thursday 407 on Wednesday and 402 on TuesdayAn AQI between zero and 50 is considered good 51 and 100 satisfactory 101 and 200 moderate 201 and 300 poor 301 and 400 very poor and 401 and 500 severeThe city has recorded 23 severe air quality days in this year so far In November it recorded 11 such days the highest in the month since the CPCB started maintaining air quality data in 2015On Monday the minimum temperature was recorded at 104 degrees Celsius three notches above the seasons average while the maximum temperature was recorded at 226 degrees Celsius two degrees above normalDelhi recorded 34 mm of rainfall till 830 am on Monday Humidity levels oscillated between 97 per cent and 47 per centThe weatherman has forecast generally cloudy sky with the possibility of shallow fog on Tuesday morning with very light rain or drizzle towards the evening or night The maximum and minimum temperatures for Tuesday has been forecast to be around 22 degrees Celsius and 10 degrees Celsius respectivelyOn Sunday the minimum temperature settled at 98 degrees Celsius two notches above normal while the maximum temperature was 214 degrees Celsius a notch above the seasons average PTI SLB ANB ANB

New Delhi Dec 21 PTI The national capital on Tuesday reported 102 fresh COVID-19 cases and one fatality while the positivity rate stood at 020 per cent according to data shared by the Delhi health departmentOn Sunday the city had reported 107 cases its highest daily rise since June 25 and one death with a positivity rate of 017 per cent On June 25 Delhi had logged 115 coronavirus cases and four deaths according to Delhi government dataWith the fresh COVID-19 cases Delhis tally has increased to 1442390 Over 1416 lakh people have recovered from the disease the department said in a bulletinThe death toll due to COVID-19 stands at 25102 it saidDelhi has recorded four deaths due to the viral disease so far in December Seven deaths were reported in November four in October and five in SeptemberThe city reported 91 cases on Monday at a positivity rate of 020 per cent 107 cases on Sunday at a positivity rate of 017 per cent 86 cases on Saturday and 69 on Friday with a positivity rate of 013 per cent and 012 per cent respectivelyThe rise in daily cases comes amid an Omicron scare in DelhiA total of 51544 Covid tests including 45429 RT-PCR tests were conducted in the city on the previous day the bulletin statedThere are 557 active cases up from 531 on Monday it statedThe number of people in home isolation stands at 262 up from 243 on Monday the bulletin saidThe active case count crossed the 500-mark after over four months on Sunday The national capital had 513 active cases on August 15The number of containment zones in the city stands at 173 up from 163 on Monday the bulletin saidOn Monday Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said all samples that test positive for COVID-19 will now be sent for genome sequencingThe decision was taken at a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority DDMA during which the Omicron situation including its possible effects and steps to deal with it was discussed according to the chief ministerHe also urged the Centre to allow the administration of booster shots to the fully vaccinated city residentsAbout 99 per cent of our eligible population has received the first dose and about 70 per cent has been vaccinated with both doses he had saidKejriwal also said the home isolation system will be strengthened in Delhi as according to experts the Omicron variant only causes mild symptomsHe said the government has made adequate arrangements for hospital beds oxygen medicines and everything else that may be needed to combat the virusWe will not let the people of Delhi face any difficulty in their treatment he addedThe chief minister held a meeting on November 30 to review preparations to tackle a possible third wave of coronavirus and the spread of the Omicron variantIt has been assessed that 30000 Covid beds are ready in DelhiThe government will be able to arrange 100 beds per ward on a two-week notice which will take the total bed capacity in Delhi to over 64000 according to an official statementAdditionally 6800 ICU beds will also be ready very soon Medicine stocks are currently being added and home isolation arrangements are being strengthened the government statement said PTI SLB ANB ANB

New Delhi Dec 21 PTI The national capital has recorded 102 fresh COVID-19 cases the highest since June 27 and one death as the positivity rate stood at 020 per cent according to data shared by the Delhi health department on Tuesday On June 27the city had logged 259 coronavirus cases with four deaths according to Delhi government dataThe number of COVID-19cases recorded in Delhi so far has reached 1442390 Over 1416 lakh patients have recovered from the disease the data statedThe death toll due to the coronavirus infection in Delhi rose to 25102 it said PTI SLB ANB ANB

New Delhi Oct 25 PTI Delhi recorded 41 fresh COVID-19 cases and zero death due to the infection on Tuesday while the positivity rate stood at 008 per cent according to data shared by the health department hereDelhi has recorded only four deaths due to the infection in October so far Last month five people had succumbed to the diseaseTwenty-five patients were discharged in the last 24 hours the data statedWith the new cases the coronavirus infection tally in the city climbed to 1439671 Of this over 1414 lakh patients have recovered from the disease The death toll stands at 25091According to a health bulletin released on Tuesday authorities conducted 50202 tests including 34143 RT-PCR ones the previous dayThere are 323 active COVID-19 cases up from 307 a day ago The number of patients in home isolation is 98 an increase from 91 the previous day it saidThe number of containment zones stands at 97 up from 88 a day agoThe national capital reported 27 cases of COVID-19 on Monday 37 cases on Sunday and 40 cases on SaturdayIn April and May the city battled a brutal second wave of the pandemic that claimed a massive number of lives with the issue of oxygen shortage at hospitals adding to the woesOn April 20 Delhi had reported 28395 cases the highest in the city since the beginning of the pandemic On April 22 the case positivity rate was 362 per cent the highest so farThe highest number of 448 deaths was reported on May 3The Delhi government has been ramping up health infrastructure to prevent a repeat of the crisis witnessed during the peak of the second wave of coronavirus in April and MaySteps have been taken to increase the number of hospital beds accommodating up to 37000 cases a day and to become self-reliant in oxygen supplyAround 7000 ICU beds are also being added at government health care facilities in Shalimar Bagh Kirari Sarita Vihar Sultanpuri Raghuveer Nagar and GTB Hospital and Chacha Nehru HospitalThe national capital has 10000 ICU bedsAccording to government data over 201 crore vaccine doses have been administered in Delhi since the inoculation exercise started on January 16 Over 72 lakh people have received both doses PTI SLB ANB ANB

New Delhi Oct 20PTI Delhi University Teachers Association members on Wednesday met the varsitys vice-chancellor Yogesh Singh and submitted a memorandum of demands including absorption of ad-hoc and temporary teachers into regular servicesThe memorandum also highlighted issues of repeated stoppage of grants by the Delhi government and the crisis faced by employees due to non-receipt of salaries problems of teachers of physical education vacant positions of librarians in around 30 colleges promotion of teachers health infrastructure and benefits to all employees the members said in a statementThe teachers also raised problems related to the teaching-learning process in context of online teaching it addedBearers also communicated to the vice-chancellor the need to strengthen the administrative and financial functioning of the University the statement said PTI SLB ANB ANB