At Sadar Bazaar, Tuesday. Data from the Union Health Ministry suggests Delhi is among the top four states that have shown a rise in the number of cases over the last month. Over 50,000 or 13 % new cases of Covid-19 have been added to Delhi’s total infections in the last 10 days. Between October 25 and November 3, 50,616 cases were reported, with an average of 5,062 fresh infections a day. During the same period, 394 new deaths were reported – an average of 39 fatalities in a day. However, the death rate based on data from the last 10 days is 0.84%.
On Tuesday, Delhi reported 6,725 new cases from 59,540 tests — the highest single-day spike for any city so far. Prior to this, Pune saw 5,939 cases in a day on September 10. With 48 new deaths, the toll rose to 6,652. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 11.29%.
As per data shared on the Delhi government’s Corona App, while overall beds are available for Covid-19 patients, critical care facilities in several top hospitals are full. In the early months of the pandemic, the government had taken over hotels and banquet halls to create facilities for Covid patients — which does not appear to be on the cards this time.
“We won’t need hotels and banquet halls again, unless numbers go up drastically. If patients continue to opt for home isolation, and if our recovery rate continues to go up, then we are in a comfortable situation. What is important is that people should not let their guard down and continue with social distancing rules and wear masks,” said Dr Mahesh Verma, who heads the expert committee formed by the Delhi government.
Recoveries, meanwhile, are hovering around the 90% mark, overall. In the past 10 days, 36,416 people have recovered- around 3,641 people every day. The city’s overall recovery rate is almost 89.3%, lower than the national average which is almost 92%.
“A good number of patients are recovering, only a fraction are being hospitalised. Pressure on the healthcare system is increasing, but there are enough beds for patients. Some private hospitals are running full but many still have facilities available. We are hoping the numbers will not increase further. If at all it does, we have enough arrangements. There is no need to panic at the moment,” said Dr Verma.
The Corona app shows that there are 15,780 beds earmarked for Covid-19 patients, out of which 6,891 (43.6%) are occupied. However, of the total 1,244 ICU beds with ventilators, 843 (almost 68%) are full.
Data shared by the Union Health Ministry suggests that Delhi is among the top four states that have shown a rise in the number of cases over the last month. A high-level expert committee formed by the Ministry of Home Affairs to monitor the city’s Covid preparedness had suggested that the daily number of cases in Delhi will go up 15,000 per day owing to winter and festive season.