Cases of COVID-19 in the Capital continued to see a spike with 1,295 fresh cases reported in the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 19,844 on Sunday. This was the highest single-day jump in the number of cases coming, a day before the “unlock” measures are set to be rolled out on Monday.

According to a heath bulletin from the Delhi government, there were 13 deaths in the past 24 hours. The total number of deaths was 473 with 57 deaths being added to the official toll on the basis of case sheets received from hospitals by the Death Audit Committee.

The previous highest single-day spike was 1,163 recorded on May 30. The Delhi government said that 416 patients had recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 8,478. At present, there are 10,893 active cases in Delhi.

A front-line sanitation worker of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), who was admitted at Lok Nayak Hospital, who had tested positive for COVID-19 has died, a civic body spokesperson said on Sunday. Posted in Badarpur, the worker was admitted to Lady Hardinge Hospital after which he was shifted to Lok Nayak for dialysis and treatment but he did not survive, the SDMC said. The civic body had earlier announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh for front-line workers who succumbed to the disease.

In another incident, a North Delhi Municipal Corporation school principal, who was associated with a hunger relief centre, has contracted the virus. The school where ration was being distributed has been sanitised and up to nine people who came in contact with her have been traced and directed to stay in quarantine.

The bulletin said that memorandums have been issued to Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, which have been asked to explain the reasons for delay in reporting deaths.

Notices issued

Show-cause notices have been issued to AIIMS, Lok Nayak Hospital, RML Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital seeking explanation for the delay in reporting deaths, which violates the directions issued by the Health Department and the DDMA under the Disaster Management Act. It added that an advisory has been issued to Lok Nayak Hospital, asking it to be careful and follow the orders/guidelines issued in true letter and spirit so that there is no anomaly in the figures being reported by the government.

The health bulletin added that the Health Minister had conducted several review meetings to assess the situation and an order was issued regarding additional guidelines for better management of bodies of COVID-19 patients/suspects persons at the mortuaries of various hospitals under the Delhi government.

The government has passed an order to declare GTB hospital as designated COVID-19 hospital with its full bed capacity of 1,500 in order to augment further the availability of beds in designated COVID-19 hospitals. The government has set up a five-member advisory committee to examine and suggest various steps of Homeopathy System of Medicine for immunity booster for COVID -19.