Delhi: Count crosses 1.16 lakh, active cases down by 857 in a day

NEW DELHI: The capital recorded 1,647 fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the tally to over 1.16 lakh. The death toll from the disease, meanwhile, climbed to 3,487, authorities said.

A total of 41 fatalities have been recorded in the past 24 hours, according to the Delhi health department bulletin.

Wednesday was the fifth consecutive day when fresh cases have been reported in the range of 1,000-2,000. The number of active cases currently stands at 17,807, down from 18,664 on Tuesday.

Of all active cases, 9,943 patients are under home isolation. Only 4,021 are admitted in hospitals while 2,029 and 167 others are recuperating at dedicated Covid Care Centres and Covid health centres, respectively. “Nearly 74% of Covid beds are lying vacant in hospitals. But we have to continue to keep them reserved for such patients because the cases can rise anytime. The situation in the city has improved significantly but there is no scope for any complacency,” a senior official said, adding that 613 (56%) of 1,103 ventilator beds in city hospitals were lying vacant on Wednesday.

According to the bulletin, the number of rapid antigen tests conducted on Wednesday stood at 15,964 while RT-PCR, CBNAAT& True NAAT tests figures were 6,564, all of them adding to 22,528. Delhi has so far conducted 7,36,436 tests, which comes to 38,759 tests per million people.

In many cases, it’s been seen that administering plasma therapy has helped reduce the risk of complications in patients. Therefore, the state government is pushing for more people who have recovered from Covid-19 to donate their plasma to save the lives of others.

All Covid hospitals have been directed to obtain feedback of patients and their willingness to donate plasma at the time of discharge.