NEW DELHI: On a day the authorities directed all private offices to work from home while Delhi chief minister once again declared there will be no lockdown despite the raging Covid-19 pandemic, the national capital on Tuesday reported 23 deaths, up from 17 on Monday, and saw 21,259 fresh cases, which is also a rise from the previous day’s tally but a tad lower than Saturday when the city reported 22,181 new cases.
The number of deaths is increasing at a steady rate. According to Dr Suresh Kumar, Director, Lok Nayak Hospital, the patients who lost their lives had comorbid conditions. According to officials, of the 136 Covid patients at the Lok Nayak Hospital, 130 had come for treatment of other problems and tested positive at the time of admission. Out of the total admitted, 30 are pregnant women.
The number of patients on ICU beds has also seen a steady rise. It was recorded at 523 on Tuesday, up from 443 on Monday. A majority of the cases being reported are of Omicron which doctors say is not very lethal and only patients with severe illness and co-morbid conditions are at high risk.
“We need not to panic and see the data of other countries. There is a significant elderly population in countries like the UK where a majority of fatalities are in that age group. It is not Omicron which is killing people but the situations we have created here,” said Dr Jugal Kishore, head of the department of the community medicine department at Safdarjung Hospital.
While the positivity rate is 25 percent, a seven month high, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced that there will be no lockdown. “The AAP government is fully prepared to deal with any situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, the DDMA on Tuesday issued revised guidelines directing that all private offices, except those under the exempted category, shall follow work from home.