COVID-19 cases mount to 6,318; death toll rises to 68 in Delhi

The total number of coronavirus cases in the national capital climbed to 6,318, with 338 new cases and two fresh deaths being reported on Friday, according to the Delhi government authorities. On Thursday, the city had recorded its largest single-day spike of 448 new COVID-19 cases. The total number of cases in the city now stands at 6,318, with 338 fresh cases reported on Friday, the authorities said. On Thursday night, the total number of cases stood at 5,980 with 66 deaths.

With two more fatalities, the death toll from COVID-19 in Delhi has risen to 68. Three more doctors at the civic-run Hindu Rao Hospital here have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said on Friday. The new infections bring the total number of people who have tested positive from this hospital to 10. Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said a 400-bed hospital in Burari area will be started as a COVID-19 care centre in the next few days.

Also, a total of 170 rooms spanning three hotels here have been attached to a dedicated COVID-19 hospital for treatment or quarantining of Delhi government officers, officials of autonomous bodies and corporations and their family members who have tested positive for the coronavirus infection, officials said. Two luxury hotels and one budget hotel has been attached to the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) they said.

As many as 2,020 patients have recovered so far, while there are 4,230 active cases, the Delhi health department said. A total of 81,367 COVID-19 tests have been conducted till date, it said in a bulletin. Total number of COVID-19 positive patients under home isolation stands at 937, it said.

According to the Delhi Health Department bulletin, out of the total 6,318 cases recorded so far, at least 1,451 are admitted to various hospitals like LNJP Hospital, RML Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) and AIIMS Jhajjhar, adding 91 of them are in ICU and 18 on ventilators. An order has been issued regarding appointing representatives of the Delhi chief minister at COVID testing centres to manage and resolve individual grievances of patients and medical staff, the bulletin said.

"An order has been issued for constituting an inquiry committee to look into the various aspects of major discrepancies in the reports of Dr. Lal Path Lab," it added. Also, an order has been issued to furnish compliance report by all the ICMR authorised labs that no report for COVID-19 is pending beyond 24 hours, it said.