Nearly 1,000 Covid deaths in 16 days

New Delhi: Delhi has added nearly 1,000 deaths from the novel Coronavirus in the last half a month as the city on Thursday shattered its record of the highest single-day deaths to be reported by logging 104 deaths as the toll climbed to 7,332 here. The city reported 7,053 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday from over 60,000 tests, bring the daily positivity rate further down to 11.71 per cent. However, the 10-day death rate, in an alarming situation amid the third wave, has increased to 1.03 per cent. It had been under 1 per cent since the Delhi government started calculating it.

From October 28-November 12, the city has recorded a staggering 97,625 cases and 976 fatalities with over 80 deaths daily in the last two days. The previous record for the highest number of deaths in a day was set on June 16 (93). Delhi recorded its biggest single-day spike of 8,593 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday that took its infection tally to over 4.59 lakh.

And as cases continue to surge, Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said that the city would not have been able to handle such surges if it wasn't for their unique home isolation policy.

"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," he said. Medical experts from government hospitals to private facilities have attributed the large number of deaths to a combination of factors, including case-surge, laxity among people and greater public movement.