After more than a week, Delhi records less than 500 cases
BRACING FOR SURGE Twelve deaths were added on Tuesday, toll is now 288
Delhi reported 412 cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, taking the city’s tally to 14,465 cases, according to the daily health bulletin released by the Delhi government. The number of new cases in the state fell below 500 for the first time in a week, with the highest number of 660 recorded on May 22, but the respite may prove to be all too brief .
On Tuesday, 12 deaths were added to the total, taking the toll of the viral infection in the city to 288. These are the deaths that get added to the total after a review by the three-member death audit committee to establish that the primary cause of death was indeed Covid-19 rather than potentially fatal co-morbidities.
The positivity rate — the percentage of people who test positive — has gone up to 10% from 7.6% on May 18, when Delhi recorded 299 cases, which is one of the lowest numbers reported on a day this month. The average positivity rate over the last week has been 11.5%, with the highest of 13.8% recorded on Monday.
Delhi has already reached the second of the three scenarios for which a five-member expert committee had advised the chief minister to prepare -- when the city records 100 cases a day, followed by 500 a day and finally when the daily tally reaches 1,000.
“Delhi is likely to start reporting 1,000 cases a day within two weeks, or even sooner,” said a senior Delhi government, official.
That’s because air and train travel to and from the city has resumed and more public restrictions will be loosened at the end of Lockdown 4.0 on March 31, which will make it difficult to enforce norms such as social and physical distancing
“The numbers are likely to go up now that markets have opened up and people are travelling. However, numbers also depend on testing criteria, if more people are tested, the numbers would be higher. It is not the numbers that we should be worried about, it is the number of deaths. We have to ensure early detection and treatment to prevent deaths,” said Dr Jugal Kishore, head of the department of community medicine at Safdarjung Hospital.
If trends follow, around 30% of the 1,000 expected cases a day would need admission each day.
The 2,000 beds in Lok Nayak Hospital have oxygen facilities.
About 0.4% people need ventilator support, according to Delhi government data which closely mimics the national average.
Currently, there are 4,462 Covid-19 beds in the city, 429 ICU beds, 343 beds with ventilators, and 2,632 beds with oxygen support are available in hospitals.
Delhi’s health secretary informed Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday that the government has ordered 28 ventilators and 435 oxygen concentrators (machines that selectively remove nitrogen from the ambient air to concentrate oxygen to about 93%). Around 30,000 PPE kits in addition to the existing 50,000 and 3.5 lakh N95 masks have been ordered. The meeting was attended by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia, and senior officials from the health department.