The daily number of COVID cases in the national capital almost doubled on Wednesday, rising to 10,655 infections from 5,481 a day earlier, with the positivity rate shooting up to 11.88 per cent and eight deaths reported, the highest in nearly seven months, prompting the Delhi government to direct hospitals to immediately escalate their bed capacity.
The city government also cancelled the leaves of all officials in a bid to ensure adequate manpower to tackle a surge in coronavirus cases driven by Omicron.
Health Minister Satyendra Jain said this is the fifth wave of COVID-19 to hit Delhi as cases are rapidly spreading due to the Omicron variant.
The AAP government is constantly monitoring the situation and fully prepared to take any necessary steps, he said and added that at the moment, there will be no lockdown in Delhi, but some restrictions are required to ensure public health.
"Most patients in hospitals have mild symptoms and do not require oxygen support. The health department is monitoring the situation closely," he said.
However, according to official data, the number of COVID patients in hospitals in the city has also increased by 107 per cent in just two days—from 342 on Monday to 708 on Wednesday. The number stood at 482 on Tuesday.
There are 22 patients in severe condition in hospitals compared to 7 on Monday and 14 on Tuesday. Out of 708 patients, 551 are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and do not require oxygen.
The number of active cases on Wednesday also increased to 23,307 from 14,889 the day before.
A total of 2239 patients were discharged in a day.
The positivity rate of 11.88 per cent is the highest since May 14 last year, when 12.4 per cent of the total tests conducted were positive.
The number of 10,665 cases recorded on Wednesday is the highest since May 12 when 13,287 people were diagnosed with the disease.
The city also reported eight COVID deaths, the highest since June 26 when nine fatalities had been reported.
Meanwhile, the Delhi government has cancelled the leaves of all its officials and staff and directed them not to leave the station in view of the COVID surge in the city, in a bid to ensure enough manpower to handle the arising situation.
It is anticipated that the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic will now involve the huge mobilization of human resources at various levels in the Delhi government, said an order issued by the city's services department.
The government has also asked its nine hospitals to increase their cumulative COVID bed capacity to 4350 from the existing 3316.
These hospitals include India Gandhi Hospital, Burari Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, Ambedkar Nagar Hospital, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital.
For now, the situation in Delhi is under control, Jain said, adding that there are plenty of beds available in Delhi hospitals.
LNJP Hospital director Suresh Kumar said four of the five patients who succumbed to coronavirus on Tuesday were above 60 and had comorbidities.
"One of them was an 80-year-old cancer patient, another a 65-year-old cancer patient, one had diabetes and heart ailments and the fourth one had severe respiratory issues and COPD," he told PTI.
The Delhi government, on Tuesday, announced a weekend curfew and work from home for its offices.
During the weekend curfew, which will come into force at 10 pm on Friday and will be in place till 5 am on Monday, all essential services will be allowed in the national capital.
Along with weekend curfew, night curfew will also continue to be in place during weekdays.
