With 412 new COVID-19 cases, daily tally dips under 500 after one week

INDIA - Delhi reported 412 cases of COVID-19 yesterday, taking the city’s total tally to 14,465, according to the daily health bulletin from the Delhi government. New cases in the national capital were under 500 after one week, with the highest number of 660 recorded on may 22.

Yesterday, 12 more deaths were added to the total, taking the toll due to the viral infection in the city to 288. These are the deaths that get added to the total after a review by a three-member death audit committee to establish whether the primary cause of death was COVID-19. The positivity rate – the percentage of people testing positive among those tested – has gone up to 10 percent from 7.6 percent on may 18, when Delhi recorded 299 cases, which was one of the lowest daily numbers reported this month. The average positivity rate over the past week has been 11.5 percent, with the highest of 13.8 percent recorded on monday. Delhi has already reached the second of three scenarios that a fivemember expert committee had advised the chief minister to prepare for. The first scenario was when the city recorded 100 cases a day and the third scenario is the city recording 1,000 cases a day. With the easing of lockdown norms and travel resuming, experts agree. If the current trends remain, around 30 percent of these cases or 300 people would need admission to hospital each day. The Delhi government is in the process of scaling up its COVID-19 infrastructure by adding another 1,500 beds with oxygen at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital. All of the 2,000 beds in Lok Nayak Hospital, the biggest healthcare facility dedicated to treating COVID-19 patients, also have facility to provide oxygen. Only about 0.4 percent people need ventilator support, according to Delhi government data, which closely mimics the national average.

(Hindustan Times)