NEW DELHI: Delhi on Sunday registered 30 more COVID deaths, the highest single-day addition to the toll which stands at 261. From 68 on May 9 to 261 on May 23, the toll has been on a sharp rise for last two weeks. A 68-year-old woman was the first in Delhi to succumb to novel coronavirus on March 14. It was the second COVID fatality in the country.
COVID cases are also on a surge — the city also reported 500 or more fresh cases for the sixth consecutive day. Going by the numbers, there were only 68 deaths in more than 50 days (from March 14 to May 9). In contrast, 23 COVID deaths were reported on Saturday alone.
There has been a rise in mortalities in the daily health bulletin after reports of fudging of death counts by the AAP government came out. The MCDs have also accused the Arvind Kejriwal-led government of underplaying COVID cases and deaths.
On its part, the AAP government denies a mismatch of figures and it set up an audit committee to whom all hospitals sent death reports. Officials claimed that the reason for ‘mismatch’ is owing to the audit committee first certifying the death reports and then updating. The Delhi HC has rejected a plea filed by All India Lawyer’s Union seeking the scrapping of state govt’s death audit committee which was set up to scrutinize the data pertaining to COVID deaths.
RML DEAN TESTS POSITIVE; NURSE DIES
The Dean of the RML Hospital — the nodal center for COVID management in Delhi — has tested positive. A staff nurse of Kalra Hospital, who was down with the virus, died at Safdarjung Hospital