NEW DELHI: The death rate due to Covid-19 continues to be higher despite a reduction in daily cases. According to doctors, one of the reasons behind this could be delayed visit to the hospital, despite severe symptoms.
In the past 23 days, 263 people have died due to Covid-19 — 3% of the total 8,370 new cases detected in the same duration. On Saturday, Delhi recorded 10 fresh Covid deaths, even as the new cases dropped to 197 from 266 on Friday.
The positivity rate slipped to 0.26%, the authorities said. The city’s infection tally is now over 6.33 lakh and the death toll 10,799, they added.
On Monday, the city recorded 161 cases — the lowest in nearly nine months, with a positivity rate of 0.32%. The active cases tally in the capital on Saturday stood at 1,880, while the positivity rate dipped to 0.26%, according to the latest bulletin issued by Delhi health department.
Dr Anurag Mahajan, vice-chairman, critical care, PSRI Hospital, said one of the reasons for higher case fatality rate could be that patients were reaching the hospital in sicker condition. “They are remaining in home quarantine for long and moving to hospitals late. That’s why there is a spike in fatality rate, even though the infection tally has come down significantly. High prevalence of chronic illnesses and other comorbidities are also a contributing factor,” he added.
Health minister Satyendar Jain had earlier said that the low number of active cases in Delhi was “satisfactory”.
This month, 585 cases were reported on January 1 and 494 on January 2. As many as 424 were seen on January 3, while from January 4-14 saw 384, 442, 654, 486, 444, 519, 399, 306, 386, 357 and 340 cases, respectively. From January 15-22, the daily figures stood at 295, 299, 246, 161, 231, 228, 227 and 266, respectively.
According to the health department, 76,868 were tests conducted the previous day, including 47,467 RT-PCR and 29,401 rapid antigen tests. The bulletin said the total number of cases climbed to 6,33,739 in the capital.