Capital reports highest daily spike of 4,039 cases
New Delhi: For the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak in Delhi, the city recorded a single-day spike of over 4,000 new cases on Wednesday, with the Delhi government reporting 4,039 fresh cases that pushed the Capital's tally past the 2-lakh-mark. The health department said that with 20 added deaths, fatalities from the disease climbed
to 4,638.
The previous highest single-day spike of 3,947 cases was recorded on June 23. Following this, the number of cases being reported in the city had drastically reduced but a recent surge in cases over the last few weeks has worried
residents here.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday chaired a review meeting and directed the hospitals and authorities to take all preventive measures to contain the spread of the Coronavirus. The meeting was attended by Health Minister Satyendar Jain, along with the Chief Secretary and senior officials of the health department and medical superintendents of the government hospitals, and heads of the private labs as well.
The review meeting comes after the CM had directed authorities to double the testing and that COVID testing could be done by anyone without the requirement of a doctor's prescription. The Delhi government also issued formal orders on Wednesday barring hospitals and labs from asking for a doctor's prescription for testing.
"The tests have been increased from 20000 to 40000 per day. If any hospital is experiencing any issues, they can directly reach me and I will extend all possible help in this regard," he said.
In fact, the Delhi government bulletin showed that Delhi had conducted a record 54,517 tests in the last 24 hours, of which 11,101 were RT-PCR tests and 43,416 were rapid antigen tests. Moreover, the CM took to Twitter on Wednesday to allay fears of residents. "Today, highest no of cases-4039
But also, highest no of tests-54,517 against 15,000/20,000 tests till last week. If we did same no of tests, today's cases wud be less than 1500. So, don't be scared by no of cases. Del wages war against corona wid aggressive testing. No of deaths continues to be low. It is 20 today, against more than 100 per day in June. People falling ill and recovering. Thro aggressive testing, we r isolating them and preventing
its spread."
The Delhi government said that active cases had now increased to 23,773, of which 12,518 are recovering under home isolation. There are also over 8,600 COVID-19 beds vacant at the city's hospitals. With 2,623 patients recovered in the last 24 hours, total recoveries here went up to
1,72,763.
