Covid-19: Delhi adds 69 virus-related deaths in last 34 days to toll, total 398 deaths now

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claimed the deaths were reported late.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led government on Friday added 82 coronavirus deaths in Delhi to the overall toll, taking the total to 398. Of these, 13 have been reported in the last 24 hours, while 69 deaths occurred in the last 34 days. This came amid allegations that the Delhi government has been under-reporting fatalities.

Addressing a press conference, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said 52 of the 69 deaths were reported from Safdarjung Hospital. “Due to late reporting of the deaths, the numbers will reflect in yesterday’s figures,” Sisodia added.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said the number of infections in the Capital has risen to 17,386 after 1,106 cases were detected in the last 24 hours. This is the biggest single-day jump in the number of cases in the city so far.

Sisodia urged people not to panic and said the recovery rate from the coronavirus in Delhi is around 50%. “No need to visit hospitals without symptoms of Covid-19,” he added. “80-90% of cases recovering in home isolation.”

The government is yet to release its daily health bulletin.

The Safdarjung Hospital had sent the list of 52 coronavirus deaths, which occurred at the facility over the past two months, to the death audit committee on Tuesday evening. The hospital’s medical superintendent, Balvinder Singh, said that officials of the Delhi government constantly changed their data collection teams due to which there has been “miscommunication” among its own staffers.

Singh told NDTV that there have been 103 coronavirus related deaths in the hospital since February 1. “Seventy Covid-19 deaths had taken place in the hospital between February 1 and May 27,” he added. “There were also 33 Covid-19 related deaths with co-morbidities.”

He claimed that the hospital has been sending the coronavirus related details to the home ministry. Till Tuesday, a Delhi government spokesperson said, the hospital had reported only four deaths.