New Delhi: Delhi logged a record 381 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, while the positivity rate stood at 32.72 per cent, according to the latest bulletin issued by the city health department.
This is the sixth day on the trot that Delhi has recorded over 300 deaths due to Coronavirus.
It had reported 380 deaths on Monday, 350 on Sunday, 357 deaths on Saturday, 348 on Friday and 306 on Thursday, according to government data.
The national Capital had recorded 20,201 cases on Monday, 22,933 on Sunday, 24,103 on Saturday, 24,331 on Friday, 26,169 on Thursday, and 24,638 on Wednesday.
The positivity rate was 35.02 per cent on Monday, 30.21 on Sunday, 32.27 per cent on Saturday, 32.43 on Friday, 36.24 on Thursday — the highest so far — 31.28 on Wednesday and 32.82 on Tuesday.
The Capital recorded over 24,149 fresh cases. The cumulative case count stands at 10,72,065, of which over 9.58 lakh have recovered. The death toll due to the viral disease stands at 15,009, the bulletin said.
A total of 73,811 tests, including over 27,230 rapid-antigen tests, were conducted in the said period, it added.
The tally of active cases in the city was at 98,264.
Out of 20,653 beds in city hospitals, only 1,812 are vacant. A total of 54,578 patients are recovering in home isolation, the bulletin said.
A total of 57,020 vaccine doses were administered to people in the said period and the beneficiaries included 35,582 who took the first dose and 2,1438 who received the second dose, the bulletin said.
The number of containment zones in the city has jumped to 31,570 from 29,104 the previous day.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government on Tuesday allowed hospitals to engage retired nursing and para-medical staff to handle the situation.
"In view of the surge of the COVID pandemic and to meet the demand of increased manpower, the medical directors/medical superintendents/directors of all COVID Hospitals of the Delhi government are authorised to engage nursing and para-medical staff who have either retired as on March 31, 2021 or are retiring soon on contractual basis for a period of six months or up to September 30 whichever is earlier," an official order said.
Other than this, The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has deployed its buses for carrying oxygen cylinders as the national capital reeled under a shortage of the life-saving gas amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Two DTC depots are providing buses for carrying medical oxygen cylinders to hospitals in emergency situation, said a DTC officer.
"There is no fixed number of buses deployed for carrying the cylinders. It depends on requirement. Routine bus services, scaled down in view of the lockdown, are unaffected because of it," the official said.
A spokesperson of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said it received 1.5 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen on Tuesday afternoon sent by the Delhi government through DTC bus.