Delhi records 13,468 COVID-19 cases, highest single-day spike; 81 deaths

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New Delhi: Delhi recorded 13,468 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest single-day surge in the national capital till date, while 71 more people died due to the disease, according to data shared by the health department.

The positivity rate rose to 13.14% from 12.44% a day ago. The 81 deaths are the highest since December 3 when 82 fatalities were recorded.  The city had recorded 131 COVID-19 deaths on November 19, the highest single-day fatality count till date.

The cumulative coronavirus case count stands at 7,50,156, and the death toll is now 11,436, according to the latest health bulletin. Around 78,000 cases have been recorded in Delhi in the last 10 days, according to official data. The fresh cases came out of the over 1.02 lakh tests conducted the previous day.

The city reported 11,491 cases and 72 deaths on Monday, while 10,772 cases and 48 deaths were recorded on Sunday. Delhi recorded 7,897 cases and 39 deaths on Saturday. The positivity rate had also mounted to 10.21%, breaching the 10%-mark for the first time this year.

The positivity rate was above 15% in mid-November last year.

On Friday, 8,521 cases and 39 deaths were recorded in the national capital. This was also the first time that more than 8,000 cases were recorded in a day this year.

On Thursday, the city recorded 7,437 cases. On the two preceding days, the number of cases stood above 5,000. The number of active cases rose to 43,510. Of these, 21,954 are in home isolation. Of the total 12,667 hospital beds in Delhi, 7,731 are occupied.

The number of containment zones increased to 6,852 from 6,175  a day ago, the bulletin said.  Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday appealed to the Centre to cancel the Class 10 and 12 board exams and explore alternative methods, including online exams.

Warning that conducting the exams may contribute to a large-scale spread of the virus, he said the centres could emerge as major hotspots.

“Six lakh children in Delhi are going to write CBSE exams. Nearly one lakh teachers will be a part of it. These (the centres) can become major hotspots leading to a large-scale spreading of corona. Children’s lives and health are very important to us. I request the Centre to cancel the CBSE exams,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. The Delhi government on Monday declared 14 private hospitals in the city as fully COVID-19 hospitals and directed them not to admit any non-COVID patients till further orders.

These included Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Holy Family Hospital, and Max SS Hospital and Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh.

Nineteen private hospitals were directed to reserve at least 80% of their ICU beds for COVID-related treatment.

Eighty-two private hospitals were asked to set aside at least 60%  of their ICU beds for coronavirus patients, according to the order issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).

“Furthermore, 101 private hospitals are directed to reserve at least 60% of their ward bed capacity for COVID-related treatment,” the order read.

The Health Department, in another order, said the number of ICU beds without ventilators in six Delhi government-run hospitals has been increased to 487.

There are now 1,913 non-ICU COVID beds in these hospitals as against 1,320 earlier.

The six government hospitals are Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, Burari Hospital, DDU Hospital, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital and Ambedkar Nagar Hospital.