Delhi on Tuesday reported its biggest rise in daily new coronavirus infections with 6,725 cases, data from the health bulletin showed. The city now has a total of 4,03,096 cases, pushing the positivity rate to 11.29% amid worsening air pollution and the festival season.

This is the first time that the number of daily cases has crossed the 6,000-mark. The previous highest single-day rise – 5,891 cases – was recorded last week on October 30. Meanwhile, the toll jumped to 6,652 with 48 more deaths. As many as 3,60,069 people have recovered from the disease.

Delhi had recorded over 5,000 new cases for five days continously, ending Sunday when the count stood at 5,664.

Earlier in the day, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal and Manipur are among the states showing a rise in active cases in India. Bhushan, while addressing a press conference, said that active cases in India have drastically declined below 5.5 lakh.

NITI Aayog member VK Paul, also speaking at the conference, warned that India needs to be cautious during the festival season. “We are still susceptible to the virus to a very large extent and the situation in America and Europe is showing that,” he said. “We don’t know the behaviour of virus completely. So, we need to save the gains that we have earned in our fight against the pandemic till now.”

Paul also urged people to get tested timely to break the transmission of the virus. “It has been proven that even if you contract the disease, there is recovery,” he added. “Beds are available. We have facilities to carry lakhs of tests. People who you came in contact in the past 8-10 days they must self-quarantine themselves and not expose others...If we miss even one positive case, that may result in thousands of cases.”

He stressed on physical distancing, washing hands and wearing masks, saying it is the “ultimate vaccine” against the infection.

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Bhushan asked states to proactively pursue the “test-track-trace and treat” strategy. “Let us keep our focus on this strategy even if our numbers are coming down,” he added.

The Centre also said that it has asked state governments to refrain from making isolated plans for a potential vaccine distribution, according to The Hindu.

India’s coronavirus count rose to 82,67,623 on Tuesday with 38,310 new cases being recorded in 24 hours, data from the health ministry showed. The country’s toll increased by 490 to 12,3097. The number of active cases stood at 5,41,4,05, while the recoveries reached 76,03,121.