NEW DELHI: Cases of the novel coronavirus continue to surge in the national capital as the city recorded 472 new cases on Thursday - the highest single-day surge so far.Delhi has been witnessing a steep rise in Covid-19 cases since the beginning of the month.
Within a span of 13 days, there has been a jump of 4,732 new cases. From 3,738 cumulative cases on May 1 to 8,470 cases till May 13, according to sources, the current doubling rate stands at almost 13.31 days. "Most of the cases (from South district) are coming from quarantine centres, but yes there is a surge in new COVID-19 positive reports," said a top official from the South District Magistrate office.
"The doubling rate of cases in Delhi is 11-12 days. We would be in a more comfortable position if the doubling rate were 20 or more than 20 days," said Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain. Currently, Delhi ranks highest in terms of testing capacity conducted in per lakh population amongst other states.From 58,210 samples tested till May 2 to 1,19,736 on May 13 – tests done in the past 10 days is more than 61,500
"The only way to conduct more testing is via rapid testing kits —which the centre has not yet sanctioned. On the other hand, the RT-PCR test has a complicated procedure and not many are willing to get this test done. No one even comes forward to get an RT-PCR test done," added Jain."There has definitely been an increase in the number of tests conducted. However there are no more pending reports of any samples collected earlier," said an official from the Delhi government.
However, not much clarity was provided by the state health department authorities as to where most new cases are emerging. While on one side no new containment zones have been added, many areas have been de-sealed.Calls made to contact State Health Secretary Padmini Singla regarding the same went unanswered.
Number of fatalities owing to the virus also increased to 115 from 61 at the beginning of the month. However, the casualties reported in the city increased by 42 in the past three days after reports of disparity of death count from that of hospitals and the Delhi government came to the forefront.
"The figures are updated ones. Basically, case sheets were received from the hospitals for the old ones," had said an official. More than 1,800 patients have also recovered in the city till May 13 from the beginning of the month.
Suppressing data?
The Delhi government made another change to its daily health bulletin by removing the figure of deaths being reported from designated Covid hospitals. On its Thursday bulletin the column which would highlight the individual death tally from hospitals was omitted and the overall revised tally was mentioned in a single column