Capital reports 1,025 new cases; 1,866 discharged

New Delhi: Delhi on Friday reported 1,025 new COVID-19 cases, consistent with the low daily case count that has been appearing for the last few weeks now, indicating that the Capital might be on its way down the Coronavirus curve. The total tally here went up to 1,28,389; whereas with 32 deaths added to the toll, COVID-19 fatalities here climbed to 3,777.

The Delhi government said that the city currently has 13,681 active cases, of which 7,778 are under home isolation. This is the lowest active case count in the last seven weeks.

Moreover, recoveries in the Capital have risen to 1,10,931 with 1,866 fresh recoveries reported on Friday.

Meanwhile, the total number of tests in the city has reached 9,08,735 with 19,138 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, of which 5,328 were RT-PCR

tests and 13,810 were rapid antigen tests. The number of containment zones in the city stood at 702 as of Friday's official health bulletin.

Meanwhile, seeking to reduce deaths from COVID-19, authorities have directed dedicated coronavirus hospitals to ensure that there is "absolutely no delay" in transferring a serious patient from triage area to an ICU, a senior official said on Friday.

The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by the principal secretary, Delhi Health Department, on Friday with nodal officers, medical directors, medical superintendents of the Delhi government's dedicated COVID hospitals, he said.

As per the latest protocol, even suspected COVID-19 patients, in serious condition are to be given immediate medical attention as required when brought to dedicated facilities.

"It was decided that to ensure mortality from COVID-19, dedicated government hospitals would ensure zero-delay in transfer of serious patients from triage area to an ICU, so that oxygen and other requirement can be immediately met," said a senior official who attended the meeting. The official, also a senior doctor at a dedicated COVID-19 facility here, said earlier many patients would just be lying in ambulances looking for a bed or medical attention, and ambulances have limited supply of oxygen, so there is a risk. In the meeting, some other steps that can be taken to reduce deaths due to COVID-19 were also discussed.

Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Friday held a meeting to discuss sero-surveillance, enhancement of ICU beds, and other issues related to COVID-19 management, officials said.

The Delhi government has planned to conduct more monthly surveys for sero-prevalence in the national

Capital and the next such exercise will be conducted from August 1-5.