3,788 new cases take tally to over 70K; toll rises to 2,365
New Delhi: Delhi's active COVID-19 case count on Wednesday went up to 26,588 as 3,788 new cases were reported along with 2,124 fresh recoveries, taking the total number of cases here to over 70,000. The Delhi government said that 64 deaths were added to the city's toll in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities here to 2,365.
However, the Capital also conducted a record number of tests in the last 24 hours, with the Delhi government saying that 19,059 tests (both RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen) had been conducted in a single day. Significantly, the Capital has also been successful in consistently increasing its bed count, with 7,208 COVID-19 beds available in hospitals here as of Wednesday's numbers.
Moreover, the relatively gradual increase in the number of active cases and hospitalised patients gives hope for administrations trying to rein in the pandemic in the Capital. The city has now conducted 4,20,707 cumulative tests, as per the official health bulletin and the total number of containment zones in Delhi has increased to 266. Meanwhile, 14,844 patients in the city are currently under home isolation.
Meanwhile, authorities here have decided to implement an 8-point strategy to contain the further spread of the virus, which included an ambitious plan to conduct massive house-to-house screening by July 6 and prepare for a Serological survey across districts here of 20,000 randomised samples, as per a revised containment strategy proposed by the special committee headed by NITI Aayog Member Dr VK Paul.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the new guidelines on home isolation were causing chaos and panic among patients in the Capital as they were clueless about what to do if they test positive for the virus. Many residents and district officials have also expressed confusion and concern over the implementation of the order.
The Deputy CM said that health services like ambulances would be overburdened by this order and that the stretched healthcare infrastructure of the city would not be able to handle the load. Moreover, district officials here have said that implementing this order would require too much manpower to physically verify each patient's home to check if they qualify for safe home isolation.
The L-G is yet to call for a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority over the issue of these new home quarantine guidelines, as requested by the Deputy Chief Minister on Tuesday.
