Coronavirus cases in Delhi rise to 1561; death toll 30

The total number of coronavirus cases in the national capital on Tuesday increased to 1561, with 51 fresh cases and two deaths being reported in a day, according to Delhi government authorities. Of the total cases, 1080 are those who have been brought to facilities through special operations.

Government authorities had last month carried out measures to quarantine people who were connected with the religious congregation that took place in Nizamuddin area in March, where a large number of people were feared to have contracted the virus from foreign delegates. By Monday night, the number of cases of the deadly virus in the city stood at 1510 including 28 deaths.

With two more fatalities reported, the death toll from COVID-19 in Delhi has jumped to 30. Out of the total cases, 30 people have been discharged and one person has migrated out of the country, authorities said.  Meanwhile, eight more zones were identified as hotspots by authorities. The total number of hotspots in Delhi now stands at 55.

According to the Delhi Health Department, 396 of the total cases were of people who travelled abroad or came in contact with affected persons. Over 2,000 delegates, including from Indonesia and Malaysia, attended the Tabligh-e-Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin West from March 1-15 and the south Delhi neighbourhood was virtually sealed earlier following fears that some people may have contracted COVID-19.

The civic authorities have carried out mass sanitisation and disinfection drive in the hotspot areas in the last few days using drones and other measures. Houses in containment zones are being surveyed by medical teams and people were made aware of the signs and symptoms of COVID-19, methods of prevention, social distancing measures, importance of hand washing, the department said.

Sample collection in high-risk areas in identified containment zones from people who had come in contact with persons testing positive is being carried out, it said, adding that 692 such samples have been collected. Meanwhile, Delhi health minister and Secretary in the health department on Tuesday held a meeting of director and principals of AYUSH hospitals and colleges to review their preparedness for COVID-19.

The additional chief secretary held a meeting of all deputy commissioners to emphasise the seven action points mentioned by the Prime Minister in his lockdown extension address, and reviewed the action taken on COVID-19 including in the containment zones, the statement said. The Health Secretary also held a meeting of the COVID-19 data management team of the state surveillance unit to streamline their data collection system.

Guidelines for second sample collection of quarantined persons were issued, the statement said. Meanwhile, in an order issued on Tuesday, the Delhi health department said it has been decided that 20,000 RT-PCR tests are to be performed "on a war-footing" in the next five days in Delhi for the community under surveillance and patients admitted at COVID-19-designated hospitals and quarantine facilities for timely containment of the disease.

Also, if daily COVID-19 samples collected are more than the combined capacity of government laboratories, then private labs have been allocated in various areas for coronavirus testing at prescribed rate for the government, the order said. Besides, an army doctor in Delhi on Tuesday tested positive for coronavirus, following which the place where he worked was sanitised and contact tracing initiated, sources said.

According to the Delhi Health Department, out of the total 1,561 cases recorded so far, 1,429 are admitted at various hospitals like LNJP Hospital, GTB Hospital, RML Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) and AIIMS Jhajjhar. Total number of COVID-19 samples sent till date stands at 16,282, the Delhi Health Department said in a statement.

As many as 2,455 people have been kept in quarantine at various government facilities, it said. As many as 30,292 people who came in contact with affected persons are under home quarantine till date and 18,308 have completed their 14-day quarantine, they said. PTI KND RDM RDM