COVID-19 death toll in Delhi mounts to 303; highest spike of 792 cases takes total to over 15K

The coronavirus death toll in Delhi climbed to 303, while 792 fresh cases of COVID-19 were reported on Wednesday, the highest single-day spike here, taking the total number of cases in the city to over 15,000, authorities said.

The previous highest spike in fresh cases -- 660 -- was recorded on May 22. This is the first time in Delhi that over 700 COVID-19 cases have been reported in a day.

In a bulletin issued on Wednesday, the Delhi Health Department said the death toll from coronavirus infection has risen to 303 and the total number of cases mounted to 15,257.

It, however, added the cumulative death figures refers to fatalities where 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 Tuesday, the total number of cases stood at 14,465, including 288 deaths. With 792 fresh cases, the total number of coronavirus cases in Delhi has climbed to 15,257.

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

As many as 7,264 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far, while there are 7,690 active cases, the Delhi health department said.

A total of 1,84,362 COVID-19 tests have been conducted till date, it said. Total number of COVID-19 positive patients under home isolation stands at 3,878, it said.

According to the Delhi Health Department bulletin, out of the total 15,257 cases recorded so far, at least 2,118 are admitted at various hospitals like LNJP Hospital, RML Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) and AIIMS Jhajjhar, adding 191 of them are in ICU and 32 on ventilators. 

The number of containment zones in Delhi has been increased to 96 from 91 till Tuesday. 

(Photo Credit: PTI)