Delhi’s cases rise by 660 in a single day

NEWDELHI: The number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases in the national capital rose by 660 between Thursday and Friday, the biggest single-day spike in the tally, according to figures released by the government.

Delhi’s tally on Friday crossed 12,000. It also recorded 14 deaths, taking the toll to 208.

Experts said that while the jump appeared to be the most serious yet, the numbers need to be studied along with testing data to determine the trajectory of the disease. An analysis of the cases showed that the multiple in which cases have increased daily has varied in the range of 0.7-1.6 in the past week, with significant fluctuations that make it difficult to determine whether the growth of the outbreak has changed.

Officials and experts have said easing of the lockdown restrictions, resumption of long distance air and rail travel services, and the movement of hundreds of thousands of migrants are likely to lead to a spurt in infections.

“The calculation of the rate of increase based on the numbers that we have is very superficial. If you test more people, you will find more positive cases. We still do not know what percentage of the population was exposed to the infection,” said Dr Shobha Broor, former head of the department of microbiology at AIIMS.

For the last four days, over 500 cases have been recorded in the daily health bulletin. This was the second of three scenarios for which a five-member expert committee had advised the Delhi chief minister to prepare.

The first scenario was Delhi reporting 100 cases a day and the third was 1,000 cases a day. The committee plans to co-opt private hospitals, hotels and rest houses for travellers for isolation wards as the number of cases start increasing.

Broor warned that given the high proportion of asymptomatic cases, detecting new infections will be difficult. It was the first time that the number of cases on a single day exceeded 600. So far, the national capital has reported 12,319 cases of the viral infection.

Of the 208 deaths, 135 have been added since May 12 when the three-member death review committee started recording previous fatalities.