Delhi: 131 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours, highest tally ever
A record 131 died in Delhi on Wednesday of coronavirus-linked complications, making yesterday's death tally the worst since the outbreak. A total of 7,943 have died so far. With the addition of 7,486 fresh cases, Delhi's case tally trumped the 5 lakh mark. It now stands at 5,03,084. Notably, Delhi saw the last death toll spike on November 12, when 104 had died.
The fresh cases came out after more than 62,000 tests were conducted. Of them, 43,147 samples were tested using the Rapid Antigen Testing kits and 19,085 were tested using the more reliable RT-PCR method. This implies that the positivity rate in Delhi is 12.03%, much more than the national figures. Meanwhile, the seven-day average case fatality ratio (CFR) stands at 2.12%.
Delhi is clearly faring worse as compared to other Indian cities. Mumbai has 2.7 lakh coronavirus cases to date, however the death count is higher at 10,615. Naturally, the city's health infrastructure is also overburdened. Delhi Corona app, which provides real-time information about vacant beds, said 92% of ICU beds with ventilator support and 87% of ICU beds without ventilators are occupied.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 663 ICU beds will be added to 11 Delhi-government run hospitals in the upcoming days. They currently have almost 3,600 beds. Within two days, 232 beds will be added at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. The Centre has also assured to increase the bed capacity in the make-shift hospital in Dhaula Kuan, reports HT.
"Overall, there are COVID-19 beds available but there is a shortage of ICU beds. We are making all efforts to increase these. Today, I met doctors of GTB hospital and the doctors immediately agreed to increase 232 beds," Kejriwal said.
The CM also appreciated the doctors, saying they managed the pandemic well. "If you look at places like New York, Sweden, Italy, and France when they had as many cases the videos that emerged showed patients in the corridors and street," he said. To note, beds are being increased after Delhi's officials had a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday.
On the ground, the situation hasn't improved as kin of critically-ill patients are still struggling to find beds. Dr. Rajesh Chawla, senior consultant, respiratory and critical care medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, said things are the same as they were a week ago. "Even though more beds have been added, there is still a shortage," he said, hoping that 10-12 days later, the crisis would be resolved.
Commenting on Delhi's condition, NITI Aayog member Dr. VK Paul said till June, nearly 60-70% of deaths in hospitals happened in the first 72 hours of admission. "Half of these deaths happened within the first 24-hours of admission. In Delhi, there has been a dramatic change since," he said. Meanwhile, to curtail the rise of cases, Delhi government is mulling shutting down hotspot markets.
