New Delhi, May 3 (TIWN) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last week said the eighth week of COVID outbreak in the city was better than the seventh week in terms of new infections reported, however, the data from the Health Department says otherwise.

There was a constant rise in the cases week after week. While the seventh week (April 13-19) witnessed 849 positive cases, the eighth week (April 20-26) reported 915 cases. The number of positive cases in the ninth week (April 27-May 3) were even more -- 1,204 reported till Sunday morning.

The first case of the coronavirus infection in the national capital was reported on March 4 and the first week had only witnessed three cases.

While the number of cases were increasing in double digits till the fourth week (March 23-29); the first week of April -- also the fifth week of the outbreak -- had seen a huge jump of 431 new cases.

The tally of cases in the first week was only three; at the end of the second week (March 9-15), there were only seven cases in the city with one death.

By the third week, the count of the positive cases reached 30 and by the next week (March 23-29) the total positive cases were 72 in Delhi and the toll was two.

It was at the end of the fourth week when the Markaz incident was reported and in the early fifth week, more than 2,300 people were evacuated from its building in Nizamuddin.

The people from different parts of the country and world were found living under one roof without following any social distancing.

By the end of the fifth week -- between March 30 and April 5 -- the total cases reported in the national capital had crossed 500-mark and stood at 503, with seven deaths.

In the sixth week, more than 650 new cases were reported and the total count of coronavirus infection had touched 1,154. In this week, total 17 COVID deaths were reported in the city, taking the toll to 24.