Delhi records highest spike in cases in 69 days
■ City reports 2,914 cases, 13 deaths in 24 hours ■ ‘ 33% beds occupied by patients from outside’
Delhi recorded 2,914 fresh Covid cases on Friday, the highest single- day spike here in 69 days, as the tally mounted to over 1.85 lakh, while a senior official claimed that there was no chance of another lockdown as it “wasn’t an alarming surge”.
This is the fourth successive day in September when over 2,000 new Covid cases have been reported in a day. Also, over 36,000 tests were conducted on Friday.
A senior Delhi government official when asked about the spiralling number of Covid cases, and whether there could be another lockdown, however, said, cases have increased as testing has been ramped up, “so, it is not that cases are rising alarmingly, and hence there is no chance of going back to lockdown”.
Thirteen fatalities have been recorded in the national capital in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 4,513, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. Medical experts have already flagged multiple reasons that could have led to surge in cases in the past one week or so, including, reopening of economy and many people not wearing masks and adhering to social distancing norms in public.
On June 27, the city had recorded 2,948 Covid cases, the highest singleday spike before September 3.
On Thursday, 19 deaths were reported and the daily cases count was 2,737. On September 1 and 2, the fresh cases count stood at 2,312 and 2,509, respectively.
The active cases tally on Friday rose to 18,842 from 17,692 the previous day.
Out of the over 14,000 beds for Covid patients at various hospitals in Delhi, around 4,500 are occupied by people, 33 per cent of whom are from outside the city, according to government sources.
As per the latest heath bulletin issued by the Delhi heath department on Thursday, the total occupancy rate of beds at Covid hospitals stands at 31 per cent.
Out of 14,140 total beds, 4,477 are occupied and 9,663 are vacant, it said.
“Close to 70 per cent of beds in Delhi hospitals are still vacant. Out of 14,000 beds, around 4,500 are occupied of which 1,500 ( 33 per cent) are occupied by those patients Who are from outside Delhi,” a government source said.
Only three out of the 131 Covid hospitals ( private and government- run) are fully occupied, he said.
“There’s no shortage of beds right now. But increasing number of patients from outside Delhi coming to city hospitals for treatment is a cause of concern,” the source said. ICU beds at a few top private hospitals like Max hospital Saket; Max hospital, Patparganj; Indraprastha Apollo Hospital; Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj are all occupied, he said, adding that over 70 per cent of these patients are from places outside Delhi.