NEW DELHI: Delhi recorded 7,802 new cases of
Covid-19 on Friday, taking the city’s caseload to over 4.7 lakh while the cumulative toll touched 7,423 with 91 more deaths due to the virus. The
positivity rate of Covid-19 — the number of positive cases from those tested — has reached 13.8%.
On Thursday, the capital had recorded the highest single-day coronavirus fatalities of 104.
In the last 13 days, from November 1 to November 12, government data shows 912 people have died due to Covid-19 in Delhi, with an average 70 deaths daily. City hospitals say the spike in fatalities is proportionate to the increase in absolute number of cases.
A total 88,124 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Delhi in the last 13 days. "The mortality rate of Covid-19 is approximately 1.2 to 1.5%. Because more people are testing positive, the number of deaths has also gone up," said a
senior doctor at AIIMS.
The spike in cases and people developing severe symptoms who require admission has left the health infrastructure overwhelmed. Only 166 out of 1,328 ICU beds with ventilator support are available across the city. ICU beds without a ventilator are also difficult to find, as only 325 out of 2,136 are vacant. "Our ICUs are running full for almost two weeks now," said a doctor at Apollo Hospital. The situation in other hospitals like Ram Manohar Lohia, Sir Ganga Ram, Fortis and Max hospitals is similar.
"It’s a crisis situation. People aren’t realising and scores of them are moving around in markets without following preventive measures such as wearing masks or maintaining social distancing. This is very serious," Dr Vinay Aggarwal, a member of
the Indian Medical Association, said. He added that the healthcare workers are overworked and finding it difficult to manage so many patients.
Delay in admission is a key factor for worsening of condition in Covid-19 patients and deaths. Doctors say if someone has symptoms, for example fever, cough or difficulty breathing, s/he should get immediately tested.
Also, even those under home isolation should be under medical supervision. Deterioration of symptoms can be very sudden in Covid-19 and, therefore, patients need to be watchful of warning signs such as breathlessness or irregular heart beat or sudden loss of consciousness, say experts.