COVID-19 death toll in Delhi rises to 129; 438 fresh cases take tally to 9,333

The death toll due to coronavirus in Delhi rose to 129 and the total number of cases in the national capital climbed to 9,333 on Saturday, authorities said. On Thursday, the city had recorded 472 fresh cases, the highest single-day spike.

In a bulletin issued on Saturday, the Delhi Health Department said with six more fatalities reported, the death toll from coronavirus infection has risen to 129.

It, however, said the cumulative death figures refers to fatalities where the primary cause of death was found to be COVID-19, as per the report of the Death Audit Committee on the basis of case sheets received from various hospitals.

On Friday, the total number of cases stood at 8,895, including 123 deaths.  With 438 fresh cases, the total number of coronavirus cases in Delhi has mounted to 9,333. Of the total number of deceased patients, 62 were aged 60 and above, accounting for over 50 per cent of the fatalities here.

Thirty-five of them were aged between 50-59 years and 26 were less than 50 years, the bulletin said.

Facing criticism for "under reporting" COVID-19 deaths, the Delhi government on Sunday issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) for hospitals and other health facilities in the city on reporting fatalities due to coronavirus.

A total of 3,518 patients have recovered so far, while there are 5,254 active cases, the Delhi health department said.

Meanwhile, two more private hospitals have been declared as COVID hospitals for admitting positive or suspected cases of coronavirus infection on a payment basis, it said.

The two hospitals are -- Batra Hospital and Research Centre, Tughlakabad (50 isolation beds) and Cygnus Orthocare Hospital, Safdarjung Development Area (40 isolation beds), according to an order issued on Saturday by the Delhi health department.

A total of 1,30,845 COVID-19 tests have been conducted till date, it said. The total number of COVID-19 patients under home isolation stands at 1,983, it said.

According to the Delhi Health Department bulletin, out of the total 9,333 cases recorded so far, at least 1,758 are admitted at various hospitals like LNJP Hospital, RML Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) and AIIMS Jhajjhar, adding 155 of them are in ICU and 26 on ventilators. 

The number of containment zones in Delhi has been reduced to 76.