Delhi's hospital occupancy now over 10k; test positivity rate shoots past 20%

The city reported 16,669 new cases on Thursday, a slight decline in the incidence of the viral infection over the previous day, largely due to the drop in testing.

The Covid-19 test positivity rate in Delhi soared to a 295-day high on Thursday, and breached the 20% mark, on the back of significantly fewer tests in the Capital, as hospitalisations for the infection hit an all-time high in the city, with over 10,000 now occupying Covid-19 beds.

On Thursday, 82,569 tests samples were collected, far lower than the average 99,460 daily tests reported over the past seven days.

The city reported 16,669 new cases on Thursday, a slight decline in the incidence of the viral infection over the previous day, largely due to the drop in testing.

As the city’s Covid-19 graph continued to surge, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, after a meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, announced more restrictions till April 30, including shutting gyms and malls completely, disallowing dine-in services at restaurants. The government also put in a place curfew over the weekend, starting from 10pm on Friday, till 5am on Monday.

On Thursday, 82,569 tests samples were collected, far lower than the average 99,460 daily tests reported over the past seven days, with the test positivity rate at 20.22%, significantly higher than 15.92% logged the previous day, and the highest since 23.28% on June 23 during the first wave of infections.

The positivity rate peaked at 15.3% during the third wave in November.

The test positivity rate is a vital metric to assess the spread of an infection in a region. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a rate below 5% for an infection to be considered under control.

Delhi’s positivity rate fell below 5% on December 3. It then dropped to below 1% on December 28, and remained lower than that for 82 days.

The city also added 112 deaths to its total toll, taking it to 11,652 on Thursday. This is the second day in a row that the city reported over 100 deaths.

The city’s single-highest one-day death toll was on November 18, when Delhi added 131 fatalities.

On Thursday evening, 10,929 people, were hospitalised with the viral infection, showed the state government’s Delhi Corona app, highlighting the daunting challenge for health care infrastructure in the Capital. The app showed that Delhi has 15,433 beds to treat Covid-19 patients.

The number of hospitalisations had peaked at 9,522 during the November surge of cases. There are 15,433 beds earmarked for the treatment of Covid-19 in the city, of which 70.8% were occupied as on Thursday night as per the government’s Delhi Corona app. And, 88% of the 3,811 ICU beds were occupied.

“We need to implement stern measures to control the spread of the infection; we are already short on the number of beds. We are heading for a disaster. If today the number of cases increases, the load on the ward and ICU beds will increase in the next five to ten days as it takes that much time for symptoms to worsen and people to reach hospitals,” said Dr GC Khilnani, former head of the department of pulmonology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

Experts have said the current increase in cases cannot be attributed solely to mutated variants present in the population and emphasised on the importance of following the rules.

“No variant can escape the mask. The rise in the number of cases is sufficient reason to worry. Now is not the time to worry, it would have been before the cases started increasing. What we can do is implement standard public health measures such as minimising indoor mingling, young people staying in. It is not that the virus has mutated to infect younger people, it is the younger people who are out and are getting infected,” said Dr Anurag Agarwal, director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology.

In a statement issued on Thursday evening, Kejriwal said two civic body-run hospitals — Hindu Rao and Swami Dayanand Hospital should be declared Covid-only facilities, which will add 900 beds for patients with the viral infection. “There should be full cooperation and no politics on the matter. Delhi government will provide every possible help to the MCD hospitals, including funds,” Kejriwal said.

Additionally, the Delhi government has requested the Centre to reserve 2,700 more beds for Covid-19 patients in its hospitals.