In just 17 days, Delhi sees 20% rise in COVID cases, 1,250 deaths  

November is turning out to be the most challenging month for the national capital in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. As the city added a humongous amount of cases and deaths amid the festive season, an alarming 20 per cent of cases and 16 per cent of deaths have occurred in only 17 days of this month so far.

As per official records, 103,228 cases and 1,250 deaths due to corona have been reported between November 1-16 while 4,147 patients recovered during the same period. Last seven days alone saw 44,210 cases and 823 fatalities.

The national capital has witnessed a sudden spike in coronavirus cases since October 28 when the daily rise breached the 5,000 level for the first time and it crossed the 8,000 mark on November 11.

Delhi had recorded 5,664 cases on November 1 which increased to 8,593 on November 11, the highest single day spike till date.

The city had recorded 7,053 new cases on November 12, followed by 7,802 on November 13, 7,340 on November 14, 3,235 on November 15, 3,797 on November 16, and 6,396 on November 17.

Between November 11-17, the fatality count stood at 85, 104, 91, 96, 95, 99 and 99, respectively.

Similarly, 7,606 COVIDd-19 patients had recovered on November 15, the highest single-day recovery count this month.

Last Wednesday, 7,264 people had recovered from the virus while on Thursday, 6,462 recovered. Between November 13-17, the recovery count stood at 6,498, 7,117, 7,606, 3,560, and 4,421, respectively.

The lowest cases Delhi recorded this month so far was on Monday where 3,797 fresh COVID-19 cases had emerged, taking the infection tally in the national capital to over 4.89 lakh, even as 99 new fatalities pushed the count to 7,713.

These relatively low number of fresh cases came out of the mere 29,871 tests conducted on Sunday, a 1/3rd of the capacity the national capital has been testing for a while now.

The latest surge has left the healthcare system here gasping. Both government and private hospitals are left with only 10 per cent ICU beds with ventilators, which are extremely crucial for patients with severe disease.

Apart from severe patients, the patients with moderate symptoms are made to wait hours before admission in the hospitals. Besides, non-Covid patients are running from pillar to post just to acquire a single hospital bed in the capital city.

The situation has forced the Delhi government to re-consider to impose restrictions it lifted months ago. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sent a proposal to Lt Governor Anil Baijal and the Centre to consider allowing only 50 people to attend weddings and imposing lockdown in market areas which may emerge as hotspots.

Besides, the district administration of Gautam Budh Nagar decided to randomly test commuters going to Noida from Delhi for the coronavirus from Wednesday.