Fatalities hit yet another high as 395 die of Covid-19

The city has added over 300 deaths a day for eight days in a row. Delhi has also logged 2,579 deaths of the infection in the past seven days alone.

The daily Covid-19 death toll in the Capital hit another high, with 395 more people dying of the infection on Thursday, as the fourth wave of the pandemic continues to sweep across the city with no respite in sight.

A medical worker tends to a patient suffering from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) inside the ICU ward at Holy Family Hospital in New Delhi, India. (Reuters)

The city has added over 300 deaths a day for eight days in a row. Delhi has also logged 2,579 deaths of the infection in the past seven days alone.

So far, 15,772 people in the city have died of the viral infection since the first death was reported in March last year. The number of deaths reported each day has shot up from an average of 15 during the first week of April to 368 a day over the last seven days.

Delhi also added 24,235 infections, Thursday’s health bulletin showed, as the Capital logged more than 20,000 new cases for the 12th straight day. The city has added over 459,000 infections so far in April alone.

In comparison, Delhi added just over 382,000 cases between October 2020 and March this year.

The positivity rate – proportion of samples that test positive – stood at 32.8% on Thursday, which means that around one in three people who get tested in the city are infected.

“The fact that the positivity rate has been declining is a certain ray of hope for us. The highest was recorded at nearly 35% about four days back. We thought it might go beyond 40 and 45%. But it has halted at 35%, and is even dropping, like yesterday [Wednesday], when it was 31.76%,” Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said in a press briefing on Thursday.

The drop, however, has been marginal at best.

Lok Nayak, GTB to start makeshift facilities

Meanwhile, to accommodate more Covid-19 patients in health care facilities, the government ordered Lok Nayak and Guru Teg Bahadur hospitals to make arrangements for consumables and more staff, so that they can start setting up makeshift facilities.

“What we are seeing is a result of lack of planning. The second wave was not anticipated. When it started, it was time to make a quick assessment. We should have expected the worst... We don’t have enough oxygen manufacturing facilities. In India we have 50 beds for every 100,000 people, which is among the lowest [in the world]. In terms of bed strength, we are ranked 155 out of 167 globally, as per a United Nations report. This puts us in company with the poorest of the poor. Delhi has 20 million people and even better prepared states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu are struggling,” said Dr Lalit Kant, a scientist and former head of epidemiology and communicable diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).