NEW DELHI, Jan 12: Delhi reported 27,561 covid cases on Wednesday, 40 deaths and 14,957 recoveries, and the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) was 26.22%. The total active cases were 87,445. On Tuesday, there were 21,259 cases and 23 deaths, taking the tally for the 11 days of the month to 93 deaths, while there were only 54 deaths in the previous five months put together. The TPR was 25.65%.

However, Health Minister Satyendra Jain told reporters earlier in the day that the cases will come down in Delhi in two-three days. He said, "We have observed that the number of hospital admissions has stabilised in the last four to five days and only 2,209 of the 14,621 beds are occupied and 85% of the beds are vacant. Plateauing of hospital admissions is an indication that the wave has peaked. We may see a decline in cases in two to three days," Satyendra Jain said. The number of cases has been around 20,000 in the past few days and so also the TPR, he said. When the cases come down the restrictions will be lifted, he added.

The Health Minister welcomed the Centre's guideline that only those showing symptoms need go for covid tests. He said no fresh Omicron cases were reported in Delhi on Wednesday, keeping the number of detected cases at 546.

The States reporting a surge in covid cases are Delhi, Maharashtra, Bengal, Uttar Pradesh,Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Gujarat, said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry.

Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) district in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday reported a record 2,230 fresh cases of covid, making it the highest single-day spike ever during the pandemic. According to the district health department data the highest single-day count was 1,822, reported on May 5 last year during the devastating second wave. GB Nagar has the highest number of daily as well as active cases in the State. The TPR was around 40% on Wednesday. However, there were no serious cases in the district and the rate of hospitalization was less than 1%.

Maharashtra reported 46,723 new cases, 28,041 recoveries and 32 deaths on Wednesday. Mumbai had 16,420 new cases, about 41% more than Tuesday. There were seven deaths, according to the BMC.

Bengal registered 22,155 fresh cases, 1,057 more than Tuesday's count, and 23 deaths. Active cases were 14,015 and the TPR was 30.86%.

Karnataka recorded 21,390 new cases, 1,541 recoveries and 10 deaths in the last 24 hours. The TPR was 10.96%. All rallies were banned in the State. There are 93,099 active cases. Kerala had 12,742 fresh cases and 23 deaths, taking the toll to 50,254. Punjab recorded 6,481 new cases and 10 deaths, and the active case tally was 26,721.

Tamil Nadu reported 17,934 new cases and 19 deaths; 7,372 cases were in Chennai. The State extended lockdown restrictions till January 31. In At the national level, the TPR was up from 1.1% on December 30 to 11.05% on January 12. The country reported 1,94,720 covid cases in the last 24 hours, 15.8 per cent higher than Tuesday's 1.68 lakh cases.

Meanwhile, the medical infrastructure to combat the ongoing third wave of the covid in the country has been ramped up. According to the Centre, the health infrastructure has been doubled in comparison to the second wave last year. During the second wave the oxygen production capacity reached 9,500 metric tons, but now it is 19,236 metric tons.