Sources said hospitals have been directed to follow best practices set, such as timely administration of oxygen and close tracking of people in home isolation, to make sure the death rate dips.Nine months after it recorded its first Covid death, the city’s toll touched 10,000 as 33 more people were reported dead Sunday.
The first person to have died of the disease in Delhi was a 69-year-old woman from Janakpuri, who contracted the disease from her son, who had returned from an international trip and had fallen ill. From over 8,000 cases in one day to 2,000 in a day, the rate of increase in Covid cases has slowed down considerably over the past month but the city’s death rate continues to be a point of worry.
The city’s 10-day average case fatality ratio on Sunday stood at 2.32% — over twice as high as it was a month ago at 1.07%. The city’s overall case fatality ratio stood at 1.56% on Sunday, marginally higher than the national average of 1.45%.
On Sunday, 1,984 fresh cases were reported and 2,539 people recovered. The number of patients under home isolation dipped to 9,964 from a high of over 40,000 earlier. There are over 16,700 active cases in the city at present and more than 72 lakh Covid tests have been conducted so far.
“While the total number of cases has come down significantly over the past month, deaths as against cases continue to be high. These issues have been discussed in meetings as well. We have been informed by doctors that a reduction in death rate is expected in another week. A lot of people who fell severely ill in the end of November — many who reached hospitals late — died. At the time, the pressure on the system was also immense. Now that the number of cases is reducing, we are expecting a reduction in deaths as well,” said a senior Delhi government official.
The highest case fatality ratio touched in Delhi was around 3.5% in June. Between July and early November, the death rate declined, with only a few minor spikes seen. Calls and messages to Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain regarding the fatality ratio went unanswered.
Sources said hospitals have been directed to follow best practices set, such as timely administration of oxygen and close tracking of people in home isolation, to make sure the death rate dips.