The number of COVID-19 patients in Delhi who are in home isolation fell on September 22 by nearly 750 compared to the previous day, the decline being recorded after nearly a month of a steady rise in such cases, according to official data.

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However, the number of containment zones continued to rise with the count standing at 1,937 on September 22. On September 21, the number of home isolation cases had mounted to 19,213 and the city had 1,889 containment zones that day. The next day, the number of home isolation cases dropped to 18,464, according to data shared by the Delhi health department. Since last week of August, both the number of home isolation cases and containment zones have shown a steadily rise, except on September 19 when the count of home isolation cases was 18,648, a very marginal fall from the previous day's figure of 18,701. However, this September 22, for the first time in nearly 30 days, home isolation case count fell by a sizeable margin of 749, to 18,646.

Experts feel the drop could be due to two reasons, with a senior doctor at a Delhi government-run dedicated COVID-19 facility asserting that home isolation as been very effective in managing the pandemic in the city. "One reason for the drop in numbers could be people are getting better and finishing their home isolation. The other could be some patients at home being transferred to COVID-19 care centres. But, in my opinion, the first reason is a bigger factor," Dr B L Sherwal, Medical Director, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital told PTI.

The Deputy Chief Minister, who recently tested COVID-19 positive and was in home isolation, was shifted to LNJP hospital on September 23. Asked if the situation is likely to improve in Delhi after the surge in cases in September, the doctor said, "We will have wait and watch for a week or so at least. It is too early to comment now".

COVID-19 cases have shown a surge since the beginning of this month with September 16 recording 4,473 cases, the highest single-day spike here till date. The daily surge in cases in Delhi had breached the 4,000-mark for the first time on September 9 while the number of fatalities recorded that day was 20. From September 9-19, fresh cases have been recorded more than 4,000 per day except on September 14 when the figure stood at 3,229 with 26 deaths being recorded that day, according to official data.

The Delhi government has significantly ramped up testing in the past few days. The number of tests conducted and corresponding fresh cases reported, ranged from 24,198 and 2,312 respectively on September 1 to 61,973 and 4,071 on September 19. Delhi recorded 3,816 fresh COVID-19 cases on September 22, as the tally in the city rose to over 2.53 lakh, while the death toll climbed to 5,051. On September 20, fresh cases and home quarantined cases stood at 3,812 and 18,910 respectively. On September 21 the city had 2,548 new case and 19,213 patients in home quarantine. Delhi had seen a big surge in cases in June, but the spike had come down in July.

The home isolation figures on July 1 stood at 16,703 with 437 containment zones marked in the city. On July 31, while the home isolation cases count had come down to 5,763, the containment zones had risen to 692, according to official data. On August 3, the number of COVID-19 patients under home isolation, and containment zones count, both came down to 5,577 and 496 respectively. On August 25, there were 5,949 home isolation cases and 654 containment zones or localised areas from where infections were reported.

Home isolation cases rose to 6,850 with 763 containment zones on August 28; then to 7876 home isolation cases with 833 containment zones on August 31; and 8,407 home quarantined cases with 894 zones on September 2. On September 5, the number of home isolation cases jumped to 9,822 while the containment zones count stood at 946.

Delhi government had been laying a lot of emphasis on home isolation, especially for asymptomatic patients as part of its COVID-19 management strategy in the past several months. In an interview to PTI, the Delhi Health Minister on September 7 had asserted that home isolation policy had proved a "game-changer" in taming the surge in June, a strategy the city government will continue to pursue.