Delhi witnesses almost 200-fold hike in Covid cases in month

 From six positive coronavirus cases on March 13, to 1,154 on April 13, the tally of the Covid-19 cases in the national capital has seen an almost 200-time rise in just a month.

According to data from the Delhi Health Department, while the national capital reported the first Covid-19 death on March 13, in just 30 days, a total of 24 deaths have been reported in the national capital, with the highest number of deaths - five -reported on Saturday and Sunday each.

On March 12, the Delhi government declared coronavirus as an "epidemic", and to check its spread, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced the closure of all the schools, colleges and cinema halls and also barred social gatherings.

The first case of coronavirus in Delhi was reported on March 4, when a person from east Delhi, with a history of travel to Italy, tested positive.

By March 23, the cases in Delhi had reached 30 with only one death reported.

On March 25, five new cases were reported, and on the next day, four additional cases were reported taking the count to 39.

The second death was reported on March 28 and the positive patient count reached 49 but by March 31, the tally was 120 positive cases.

The cases, till March end, were mostly people with travel history or people who came in contact with those who travelled abroad.

However, around March end, cases from Nizamuddin Markaz emerged.

On April 1, when more than 2,300 people evacuated from the building, the tally of Delhi's positive cases was 152 with two deaths reported.

The people in the Markaz gathered from different parts of the world and the country and were living without following any social distancing or other COVID-19 measures.

The cases started increasing drastically after that.

While 141 new reported positive and two more deaths, the tally on April 2 touched 293 cases with a total of four deaths.

On April 3, the total Covid-19 cases reached 386 in Delhi, with 93 new cases and two more deaths reported in 24 hours. By April 3, a total of six deaths were reported in the city due to coronavirus.

On April 5, one more death was reported and the cases also went up by 58. Total cases on April 5 were 503 with seven deaths.

On April 7, two new deaths and 51 new cases were reported and the tally reached 576 cases with total nine deaths due to Covid-19 since the outbreak.

On April 8, total cases reached 669. The next day saw three more deaths and 51 new cases. While the patient count reached 720 on April 9, the total deaths reported had touched double digits at 12.

April 10 saw two more deaths and 183 new cases, a record hike. While the positive cases reached 903, the toll was 14 by the date.

On Saturday, April 11, the positive cases jumped to 1,069, with the second highest hike in new cases reported in 24 hours -- 166. The tally on Sunday was at 1,154.

Also, on Saturday and Sunday, the highest number of Covid-19 deaths were reported -- five on each day, taking the total toll to 24.

However, according to the Health Department, the community or the Stage 3 transmission of the infection has not been reported in the city.

So far, 43 containment zones have been made in the city to contain the spread of the virus, wherever positive cases were found.

Also, among the total 1,154 cases, about 65 per cent are from Markaz and about 30 per cent are those with travel history or their contacts. IANS