Delhi records 107 deaths in a day, highest daily toll in Capital ever

Delhi on Thursday recorded 107 deaths due to Covid-19 — the highest ever since the pandemic broke out, pushing the cumulative death toll to 7,332. In the ongoing third wave of the infection, the Capital has been adding 70-80 deaths per day on an average. This is the first time that the toll breached 100-mark. Even in June-July, when the Capital was under the grip of the first wave, the maximum number of deaths didn’t reach beyond 95. On June 16, 93 people died of Covid-19.

In the last 24 hours, Delhi recorded 7,053 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday, a day after its daily Covid-19 tally breached the 8,000-mark. While the number of new infections reported on Thursday was lower than that of Wednesday, the number of people who were tested also decreased. On Wednesday, 64,121 tests were done, according to the government’s bulletin. On Thursday, 60,229 tests were conducted. The positivity rate in Delhi now stands at 11.71 per cent. Over 26,000 people are under home isolation now.

Delhi has been witnessing an uptick in the number of cases with the onset of winter and pollution since the last week of October. The ongoing season of festivities has added to it as social distancing norms are being flouted and markets are almost back to their pre-Covid bustle.

On Thursday, the Delhi High Court allowed the AAP government to reserve 80 per cent of beds in the intensive care units of the private hospitals for Covid-19 patients. A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad said the situation in the national Capital is fairly dynamic and the state has to be “much more alive” to the circumstances. It also noted that the government is doing everything under the Sun to “unlock things”.

“Eighty to ninety per cent cases are recovering at home. Our home isolation policy was a successful model and had it not been implemented, it would not have been possible to handle such a massive surge in Covid-19 cases we are seeing today,” Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said.