The total number of cases in Delhi crossed the 9,000-mark and was recorded at 9,333 as of Saturday.

On the third consecutive day, Delhi recorded over 400 cases in a day with 438 fresh cases reported in the last 24 hours. On Saturday, six more deaths were added by the state government after the cases were examined by the death audit committee.

The total number of cases in Delhi crossed the 9,000-mark and was recorded at 9,333 as of Saturday. The death toll was reported at 129.

At the start of this week, Delhi had 7,233 cases with 73 deaths. The number of cases rose by 29 per cent in the last five days. A total of 130845 tests have been done so far and in 24 hours 5656 more tests have been processed.

The highest number of COVID-19 cases is recorded by Maharashtra with 29,100 positive cases. Other states with a large number of cases of the disease include Tamil Nadu with 10,108 cases, Gujarat 9,931 cases and Delhi with 9,333 cases so far.

Two more Covid-19 hospitals

While 408 people have been discharged/migrated/recovered so far from the city, two more private hospitals have been declared as COVID hospitals for admitting confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19 on a payment basis. Batra Hospital and Research Centre and Cygnus Orthocare hospital have been asked to allocate 50 and 40 beds, respectively, for Covid-19 patients.

Last week, three more private hospitals — Fortis, Shalimar Bagh, Saroj Medical Institute and Khushi hospital — were asked to start providing treatment to the patients. At present, eight private hospitals and six government hospitals in Delhi are designated to treat COVID-19 suspected and confirmed cases.

Govt clarifies: Audit panel reporting deaths with primary cause as COVID-19

On Friday, the government in its bulletin clarified that the cumulative number of deaths so far are where the primary cause of death is found to be COVID-19. This means the committee will report the deaths in which the primary cause of death is COVID-19. The deaths have been audited by a three-member committee formed by the government to assess the COVID-19 deaths. The data has been updated on the basis of the case sheets received from the hospitals.

On April 11, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) had issued guidelines for appropriate recording of COVID-19 deaths. As per the guidelines, COVID-19 would be recorded as an “underlying cause of death” when leading to pneumonia, cardiac injury and clotting in the bloodstream, among others.

It said pre-existing co-morbid conditions such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, ischemic heart disease, cancer and diabetes mellitus in patients increase the risk of developing respiratory infections and may lead to complications and severe disease in a COVID-19 positive patient. “These conditions are not considered as the underlying cause of death as they have not directly caused death due to COVID-19. Also, a patient may have many co-morbid conditions but only those that have contributed to death should be recorded,” the guidelines stated.