Delhi is Burning: 12 People Are Dying Every Hour in The National Capital
Family member wearing PPE performs last rites of a COVID-19 victim at Nigambodh Ghat crematorium, in New Delhi. (PTI)
Between Monday and Saturday (April 19 and 24), Delhi reported 1,777 deaths – over 12 deaths per hour on average, the government data suggests.
- NEWS18NEW DELHI
- LAST UPDATED:APRIL 25, 2021, 17:48 IST
NIVEDITA SINGH
Amid a massive shortage of medical oxygen in the national capital, hourly deaths in Delhi this week since Monday increased to over 12 from about five registered last week, official data revealed.
Between Monday and Saturday (April 19 and 24), Delhi reported 1,777 deaths – over 12 deaths per hour on an average, the government data showed.
During the same period last week (between April 12 and 17), Delhi reported 677 deaths – about five deaths per hour. This week, the number of deaths on an hourly basis was more than 10 on an average.
On Monday, the city reported 240 deaths – 10 deaths per hour on an average. This increased to 12 deaths per hour on an average on Tuesday as the city reported 277 deaths in 24 hours.
On Wednesday, the city saw 249 deaths, fewer than the previous day, making it over 10 deaths per hour on an average again. Since Thursday, Delhi has been reporting more than 300 deaths per day. On Friday and Saturday, the toll was more than 345.
With 306 deaths reported in 24 hours on Thursday, Delhi was reporting about 13 deaths per hour on an average. This increased to 348 deaths on Friday – about 15 deaths per hour on an average.
Saturday was the worst day since the beginning of the pandemic in terms of daily deaths reported as the national capital reported 357 deaths in a day – also about 15 deaths per hour on an average.
In terms of daily cases reported, Delhi has recorded more than 23,500 cases each day since Monday.
A total of 1.51 lakh cases have been reported in Delhi since Monday – making it 1,051 cases per hour on an average. On Tuesday, Delhi reported record number of cases in a day – 28,395. On that day, Delhi reported 1,183 cases per hour on an average.
On Thursday, the city reported the second highest cases — 26,169. On that day, the per hour average was 1,090 cases. On Wednesday, Friday and Saturday the city reported over 24,000 cases each day – more than 1,000 cases per hour on an average.
Between Monday and Saturday, the per day testing has came down by 24.5 percent – from 98,957 samples tested on Monday to 74,702 samples tested on Saturday.
As of Saturday night, the active cases in Delhi were 93,080 – an increase of 21.06 percent from Monday when the active cases were 76,887.
Over the week, Delhi’s positivity rate increased from 26.12 per cent to 32.27 per cent. This meant every third person being tested was infected, while every fourth sample was positive in the beginning of the week.
Also, containment zones increased drastically in the city – reporting an increase of 64.91 percent. There were 15,039 containment zones in the city on Monday. By Saturday, Delhi had 24,802 containment zones