New Delhi, June 9: The novel coronavirus spread its tentacles further in India as sharpest spike of nearly 10,000 cases along with 266 fatalities was recorded in past 24 hours with Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister predicting that COVID-19 tally will reach 5.5 lakh in the national capital by July 31.
Rise recorded since Monday is so far the highest single-day hike the country. More worrisome is the fact that every day, the total number of fresh cases are rising. On Tuesday, as per Union Health Ministry, 9,987 fresh cases were registered, taking the tally to 2,66,598. The number of recoveries and active cases now stand shoulder-to-shoulder with 1,29,215 and 1,29,917 respectively.
Though the recovery front is improving and sending signals of positivism among the active COVID patients, the violation of social distancing on daily basis are fuelling the tally. Also, more cases are coming into light due to enhance testing.
Capital crisis
Delhi, where cases are scaling new heights day-by-day, quivered after Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia revealed that the cases are expected to rise to 5.5 lakh by July 31. The assertion came after the meeting called by State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, to discuss the COVID-19 situation in the national capital where the tally has almost reached 30,000, including 874 deaths.
Speaking to the media persons after the meeting, Sisodia alerted that Delhi will require at least 80,000 beds. There are currently nearly 20,000 beds in the national capital for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. However, the authorities in Delhi have rejected any sign of community spread so far. “But the infection could spread rapidly in the coming weeks”, they maintained.
However, Health Minister Satyendra Jain averred that the authorities were not able to trace the source of infection in almost 50 per cent of the COVID patients in the city, thus drawing apprehensions over the community spread.
Community spread implies that the virus is now circulating in the community, and can infect people with no history — either of travel to affected areas, or of contact with the infected person.
