Delhi recorded 1,375 new Covid cases but no casualties on Wednesday. This was an increase of 20 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest since May 8. The positivity rate rose to 7.01 per cent. This is the second-consecutive day that Delhi has crossed the benchmark of over 1,100 Covid cases in a day.
With the new cases, Delhi's tally of Covid cases increased to 19,15,905 and the death toll stood at 26,223, the Health Department said in its latest bulletin.
“There are 9,582 beds for Covid patients in Delhi hospitals and 169 (1.76 per cent) of them were occupied,” it said. A total of 19,622 Covid tests were conducted a day ago. Data show that despite the increase in cases and the Centre urging States to reach out to the eligible population during the ‘Har Ghar Dastak 2.0’ campaign that started in June, Delhi’s immunisation drive has been slow.
Only 3.17 lakh doses were administered in June as compared to 3.2 lakh doses during the last 14 days of May.
Experts said that the Delhi Government is not implementing the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) devised by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), since hospital admissions are low. The GRAP stipulates measures to be taken by the Government as per the positivity rate and bed occupancy.
According to a Government doctor posted in the west district, they have directed all public health centres to increase the number of teams deployed for monitoring home isolation cases. "We have sought a report from them on it and on the available stocks of Covid drugs and also if stocks of any medications are running out. If case of a shortage we will put in the request with the DGHS," he said.
He also said that health teams have been asked to take minute details of patients’ travel history, location of offices and all the places visited three to four days before testing positive.
"After getting those details we will be studying the Covid trend there," he asserted. He also shared that they have reviewed the status of hospital beds, including those with oxygen and ventilator facilities.
"Despite the spike in cases, the hospitalisation rate is low. People with co-morbidities are getting hospitalised and there are also instances where trauma patients or those coming for treatment of other illnesses turn out to be positive for the infection," he added.
On Tuesday, Delhi had logged 1,118 cases and two deaths while the positivity rate was 6.50 per cent. Delhi on Monday reported 614 new cases and zero death due to the disease, while the positivity rate stood at 7.06 per cent.
