As the national capital reels under the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of patients under home isolation in Delhi has mounted to 24,723, a rise of 50 per cent in the last two weeks, while the containment zones count has expanded by over 32 per cent in the same period. Coronavirus cases have spiralled since October 28 when 5673 fresh cases were recorded and on November 8, the daily infection tally was 7745, the highest single-day spike here till date. In this period, a staggering over 74,000 new cases have been reported.
The number of home isolation cases on October 26 stood at 16,396 and the containment zones count that day was 2930, according to official data. On October 28, the number of fresh cases breached the 5000-mark for the first time and the home quarantined cases rose to 16,822.
With the third wave of the pandemic hitting the national capital, daily cases surged and containment zones count kept mounting, standing at 3878 on Sunday. The positivity rate which stood at 8.23 per cent on October 26 spiralled to 15.26 per cent on Sunday.
The number of home isolation cases on Sunday stood at 24,723, an increase of over 50 per cent since October 26. Experts have flagged that crowding due to festive season and rise in pollution level and laxity in adhering to COVID-19 safety norms, among other factors, have caused the massive surge in daily cases in the last several days.
So, rise in home isolation cases is a direct result of that, they said. The count of home quarantined cases on October 19 was 14,164 which fell marginally on October 20 to 14,046. However, since then, these cases showed an upward trend, and on October 31 the figures stood at 20,093, according to official data.
In this period, the number of containment zones also got expanded from 2724 on October 21 to 3274 on October 31. Over 7,000 daily fresh cases have been recorded on two days in November, over 6,000 daily cases four times, and more than 75 fatalities were recorded on both Saturday and Sunday, the highest in over four months.
From October 28-31, over 5,000 cases were reported in the city, every day. Seventy-seven new fatalities were recorded on Sunday, pushing the death toll in the national capital to 6,989. On Saturday, 79 fatalities were reported from COVID-19.
The active cases tally which had crossed 40,000-mark on November 7,on Sunday stood at 41,857, as per official data. The Sunday health bulletin said that the total number of cases has climbed to 4,38,529.
The bulletin also said that 3,89,683 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far, putting the recovery rate at around 89 per cent. Due to this massive surge in cases, the number of beds, including ICU beds with ventilators facilities are shrinking fast in hospitals.
The Delhi government on Friday had issued orders to augment the capacity of beds for COVID-19 patients by adding in total over 1100 beds at various state-run and private facilities to "combat the third wave" of spread of infection. According to the Friday bulletin, out of the total number of 15,781 beds in COVID hospitals, 8253 were vacant.
The Sunday bulletin said, out of the total number of 16,027 beds in COVID hospitals, 7955 were vacant. According to doctors, people, especially those with respiratory illnesses, should try to stay indoors as much as possible and treat the situation as a major health emergency and not become complacent about it, since lockdown has been erased to reboot the economy.
"We would advise patients with respiratory illnesses to stay indoor as much as possible. Also, appeal to youth to not assume everything is normal again just because the economy is getting eased. Mask should be worn all time while being outdoors, and social distancing norms should be followed," said a senior doctor of a government hospital. After showing a gradual decline since September 22, except on two days, the number of patients under home quarantine, had again risen on October 1, the count being 15,899.
On September 21, the number of home isolation cases had increased to 19,213 after steady ascent in its count since the last week of August. However, it fell by a margin of 749 on September 22 to 18,464, registering a significant fall after a long time.
It fell further down to 17,834 the next day when the the number of containment zones stood at 1987. The containment zone count had crossed the 2000-mark on September 24 (2059) and the 3000-mark on October 27 (3032), when the the home isolation cases on corresponding days stood at 17,995 and 16,415 respectively.
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