New Delhi, Apr 17 (IANS): At least 19 per cent of residents of Delhi-NCR say they have 1 or more individuals in their close social network who has had Covid in the last 15 days, claimed a survey on Sunday.

The Covid network prevalence has risen to 19 per cent marking an over 500 per cent increase in the last 15 days which also corresponds to the 650 per cent increase in Test Positivity Rate (TPR) during this period, the survey claimed.

The survey asked residents of Delhi, "How many individuals (including children) do you have in your close social network (family, friends, neighbours, colleagues) in Delhi-NCR that have had Covid in the last 15 days?" This question in the survey received 11,743 responses.

In response, the majority, 70 per cent of Delhi residents said "No one in the last 15 days".

Breaking down the poll, 11 per cent said "1 or 2", and 8 per cent said "3-5" while 11 per cent could not say. The findings indicate that 19 per cent of residents of Delhi-NCR say they have 1 or more individuals in their close social network who has had Covid in the last 15 days, according to the survey conducted by LocalCircles.

The similar question the firm asked on April 2 had found that only three per cent residents had someone in their close social network who were infected with Covid in the last 15 days.

The survey received inputs from 11,743 citizens located in all districts of Delhi and NCR where 67 per cent of the respondents were men and 33 per cent were women.

All participants are validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey.

On April 2, Delhi recorded a test positivity rate of 0.7 per cent and 114 cases. This TPR in Delhi alone has jumped from 0.7 per cent on April 2nd to 5.33 per cent on April 16, marking a 650 per cent increase in TPR and indicating that Covid is back in Delhi and spreading rapidly, the survey said.