Recoveries near 1 lakh; case fatality rate at 2.9%

New Delhi: Delhi on Friday reported 1,462 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total tally here to 1,20,107. However, 99,301 patients have now recovered from the contagious disease, almost six times the number of active cases which stands at 17,235. A total of 1,608 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours. The Capital also added 26 deaths to the toll —

the lowest in the last several weeks, taking total fatalities from the virus here to 3,571. Delhi's mortality rate stands at 2.9 per cent now.

The Delhi government said that 9,595 patients are currently recovering in home isolation and the official health bulletin showed that 20,464 tests had been conducted in the last 24 hours, of which 6,270 were RT-PCR tests and 14,194 were rapid antigen tests.

The number of containment zones in the national capital stood at 668 on Friday. Last week, the number of containment zones increased by more than 150 after the city government decided to break existing hotspots into smaller clusters for better surveillance.

Meanwhile, the office of the sub-divisional magistrate in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi has empowered officials of the New Delhi Municipal Council to levy fines for violation of lockdown guidelines like maintaining social distancing, wearing face-masks, prohibiting spitting in public places and consumption of paan, gutkha and other tobacco products in public.

The order issued on July 17, empowers and authorises the Director (Enforcement); Chief Medical Officer; and all officers of Assistant Sanitation Inspector-rank and above in the Council's public health department to levy these fines.

As per the regulations, the first offence will attract a fine of Rs 500, whereas a repeat offence would attract a fine of Rs 1,000. The district COVID-19 management authority in New Delhi has also directed that these officials of NDMC can take action under Section 188 of the IPC and sought a daily report to the SDM about the action taken as per this order.