Delhi shatters record for COVID-19 deaths with 131 fatalities, Kejriwal calls all-party meeting

As the wrath of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to grapple the national capital, it reported the highest single-day fatalities on Wednesday at 131, taking its overall death toll to 7,943, while 7,486 new cases out of the 60,229 samples tested in the last 24 hours mounted Delhi's Covid tally to 5,03,084.

The fatalities recorded are the highest in a day coming in parallel to the sharp spike in cases being reported after a months-long lull. Delhi has seen an alarming spike in cases in recent weeks, recording more new cases than any other state in the country.

Meanwhile, an all-party meeting has been called by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday to discuss the situation.

The Delhi Corona App showed that 1,236 out of 1,347 ventilator beds in dedicated ICU wards across the hospitals in the capital city are occupied, leaving a large waiting list for the patients to procure even a single bed. All the major private and government hospitals have shown full occupancy, as per the application.

As per the government data, 6,901 patients recovered from the deadly disease in the last 24 hours. Delhi`s test positivity rate stood at 11.71 per cent while the case fatality rate stood at 1.57 per cent.

The only silver lining is that the number of tests conducted crossed the 60,000-mark after days of testing an abysmally low number of samples since the Diwali festivity started.

Currently, 9,343 out of 16,884 beds are occupied in the hospitals, 568 out of 8,217 beds in the dedicated Covid Care Centres and 219 out of 562 beds in the dedicated Covid Health Centres. Over 24,842 people are in home isolation. The number of containment zones has been raised to 4,444.

November is turning out to be the most precarious month for the national capital in managing the pandemic. The capital city is just halfway into the month, but it has already reported an alarming spike in the number of cases and deaths.

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday visited the state-government GTB Hospital to review the preparedness. He said that in a review meeting, the doctors have agreed to increase the strength of the ICU beds by 232, which means that the total number of ICU beds in GTB Hospital will go up to 400.

Around 663 beds will be increased in other Delhi government hospitals in the next few days. Apart from this, with the Centre assuring 750 additional ICU beds, around 1,400 beds will be increased across hospitals in Delhi in the coming few days.

He said that despite the huge spike in the number of cases, the doctors and nurses in Delhi are doing a commendable in treating corona patients.

Briefing the media after the hospital visit, Kejriwal said, "The corona cases have been rising in Delhi for the past few days, but overall, there is a sufficient number of beds in the hospitals. If we leave some big private hospitals, there are an adequate number of beds available in the government and private hospitals."