No Covid death in Delhi first time since May 11

According to government data, the highest number of Covid-19 cases in a day (8,593) was recorded on November 11, and on November 18, the city recorded the highest number of single-day deaths (131).

No fresh Covid-19 death was recorded in the national capital on Tuesday for the first time since May 11, a landmark in Delhi’s tumultuous pandemic fight that has experienced three waves of infections – the latest one in November being the deadliest – as hopes of defeating the public health crisis are emboldened with a roll-out of vaccines.

Hundred new cases in Tuesday’s bulletin, reported from 56,410 tests conducted the previous day, took the case tally to 636,260, but active cases were down to 1,052. (HT photo)

So far, 10,882 people have died of Covid in the city since the death of a 69-year-old woman from Janakpuri was reported on March 13. According to government data, the highest number of Covid-19 cases in a day (8,593) was recorded on November 11, and on November 18, the city recorded the highest number of single-day deaths (131).

The numbers have been improving since then.

Hundred new cases in Tuesday’s bulletin, reported from 56,410 tests conducted the previous day, took the case tally to 636,260, but active cases were down to 1,052. The day’s positivity rate (confirmed infections among tests conducted) dipped to 0.18%. It was 15.33% recorded on November 15 – the highest since June 27 (15.37%) – and has been on a decline since then.

The most striking statistic, however, was zero deaths.

“Good news for Delhi residents, there have been no deaths due to Covid-19 today. Congratulations to Delhi residents, the number of Covid-19 cases have gone down, vaccination drive is going on at full speed. Delhiites have fought a difficult war against corona but we still have to maintain all precautions,”chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.

“Today, no death has been reported due to Covid infections. Delhi’s collective will is gradually winning over the infection. I congratulate the people of Delhi for taking proper precautions and our health care and frontline workers who have fought this battle tooth and nail,” said Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain.

New deaths usually reflect infections that took place three-four weeks ago.

Delhi, which was one of the earliest hot spots in India’s Covid-19 outbreak, is the only region in the country that has reported three distinct waves of infections. The first started in mid-June last year, and peaked when the seven-day average of daily cases touched around 3,400 in the last week of June. This receded by the end of July when it dropped to around 1,000 daily cases. The second wave started at the end of August, rising until mid-September, when average daily cases touched 4,174 for the week ending September 17. This again dropped to 2,574 in the week ending October 9, before the onset of the third wave. The third wave raged through October and November.

Delhi recorded 96 Covid-19 cases on January 27, the lowest in over nine months, and the first time the daily count stood below the 100 mark. On Friday and Sunday, two deaths were reported in the national capital, same as on February 2.

In the past nine months, Delhi has gone through three peaks of daily Covid-19 deaths. It recorded 129 deaths on June 12. This came 90 days after the city recorded its first death in March. The second peak in daily deaths came on September 29 (109 days after June 12) and October 10 (120 days after June 12), when Delhi recorded 48 deaths. The third peak of 131 deaths came just 39 days after October 10.

The first peak of the seven-day average of deaths came on June 16, when the number was 84. The second peak was on October 2 (42 deaths) and the third on November 24 (116 deaths).

Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in November last year, Kejriwal said that even after a peak of 8,593 daily cases, the Capital’s health care infrastructure did not collapse under the surge of infections, something that was noticed in several metropolises across the world, including New York City.

He said the fundamentals of the “Delhi model” that his government devised to fight the pandemic — testing, home isolation, public data, hospital beds, and plasma therapy — remained strong, and the situation did not go out of control because of the robustness of this strategy.

“The number of cases of Covid-19 has declined considerably and so have the deaths. This is because of a number of reasons – many have already been exposed to the infection and several others have now been inoculated. Also, fewer patients with the disease have been brought in from neighbouring states in the last few months... However, a few deaths will continue to happen in those who are immunocompromised, have other severe conditions, and in general are not in good health,” said Dr BK Tripathi, professor of medicine at Safdarjung Hospital.

More than 12,700 people received coronavirus vaccine shots in Delhi on Tuesday in the fourth week of the inoculation drive, the highest single-day turnout by numbers till date, officials said. The turnout was over 70%, a marked improvement from the figures a day before — 9,740 (54% turnout).

At the Delhi government-run Lok Nayak Hospital, which has been the largest Covid-19 hospital in the city, no deaths due to the infection were reported for three days in a week. “Our doctors are overjoyed. They have seen the worst and now it is great that the situation has improved so much that no deaths were reported in the hospital for three out of the last seven days. And, today, no deaths were reported in the entire city,” a senior doctor from the hospital said on condition of anonymity.

The development came on a day the Centre said seven states and Union Territories reported no new Covid-19 deaths in the last three weeks, while 15 did not register any fatality in the past 24 hours.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Mizoram, Nagaland and Lakshadweep have reported no new Covid-19 deaths in last three weeks, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said. Addressing a press briefing, he said India was the fastest country to reach 6 million vaccination doses of Covid-19 in 24 days.