Delhi sees a dip after recording over 2k cases three days in a row

Delhi recorded 73 deaths due to Covid-19 on Monday, taking the city’s total toll to 1,400, according to data provided by the Delhi government in its daily bulletin. This puts Delhi’s case fatality rate at 3.2%.

Delhi saw a dip in the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases after recording over 2,000 a day for three days in a row. The city reported 1,647 new cases on Monday, taking the total number of cases to date to 42,829.

A medical worker wearing PPE coveralls collects a swab sample from a woman to test for COVID-19 infection, in hotel The Exocita Grand, Patel Nagar, in New Delhi. (Sanchit Khanna/HT PHOTO)

Delhi recorded 73 deaths due to Covid-19 on Monday, taking the city’s total toll to 1,400, according to data provided by the Delhi government in its daily bulletin. This puts Delhi’s case fatality rate at 3.2%.

The number of active cases—or those still living with the infection—rose to 25,002 on Monday. Of these, there are 5,420 patients with severe symptoms, such as elevated respiratory rate of 30 or more (the normal is 12 to 20 breaths per minute) or oxygen saturation below 90% (the normal is 95% to 100%) admitted to hospitals.

The Delhi government data shows that 794 patients, or 3.17% of active cases, continue to be in the intensive care unit. Of these, 197 patients, or almost 0.8%, need ventilator support.

The Delhi government plans to augment its ventilator strength by 500 in the coming month, of which 200 ventilators are being provided by the centre. The government estimates the need for 1.5 lakh hospital beds by July-end.

Currently, 18,215 people are in home isolation—this accounts for almost 73% of those living with the infection.

With several laboratories in the city resuming testing for Covid-19, the number of tests a day has gone up in Delhi over the last two days, with 7,353 samples being tested as per June 14 data and 6,105 as per June 15 data. Last week, on average, 4,900 samples were being tested daily.

With the increase in the number of samples, the positivity rate has also started coming down. The positivity rate— or percentage of people who tested positive among those tested—stood at almost 27% on Monday. The highest positivity rate of almost 37% was recorded on June 13 when 2,134 people among the 5,776 tested turned out to be positive.

“This just means that currently the numbers are on a rising trend and there is transmission happening in the community. There is no other way that the city could record so many cases every day. However, the increasing positivity rate could also be a result of the labs testing only those with symptoms. If you test only the people who are likely to have the infection, the positivity rate will, of course, be high,” said Dr Shobha Broor, former head of the department of microbiology at All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

Mohalla Clinic doctor dies

A doctor working in a mohalla clinic in Najafgarh, Dr UC Ghosh, died of Covid-19 on Monday. He was 65.

He had started working at the clinic just three months back, after his wife died of cancer in March this year. “He was lonely and depressed after his wife died. He had given up his practice to take care of his wife. The clinic came as a welcome respite to him. But, he was likely infected there,” Dr BK Dey, 65, his family friend, who works in Maharshi Valmiki hospital, said.

Dr Ghosh was diabetic and hypertensive, according to a Delhi government official.

“We have asked our senior doctors to not reopen the clinic as of now. However, there are still several volunteers who want to work there,” the official said.

According to his friend, Dr Ghosh started losing his sense of taste and smell about 12 days ago and also felt lethargic. “He would come home from the clinic and just go to bed. His daughter did not think too much of it, but maybe that’s when he got the infection,” Dey said.

Dr Ghosh started vomiting and developed a high-grade fever four days ago and had to be admitted to a hospital in Dwarka, where he lives. “He was admitted to the ICU and was put on the ventilator a couple of days ago. His test came back positive yesterday, but by then his condition was already deteriorating,” said Dr Dey, who continues to go to the hospital in the absence of a written directive asking those who are aged to stay at home.

Dr Ghosh is reportedly the second doctor who died of Covid-19 in the city so far. Earlier this month, Dr JN Pande, former head of the medicine department at All India Institute of Medical Sciences had succumbed to the disease.