Active COVID-19 cases in Delhi rise by over 15,000 in three days

The active COVID-19 cases in Delhi have risen by over 15,000 in three days marking a steep rise in the number of cases and raising concerns over the spread of coronavirus.

With 24,375 new COVID-19 cases reported in Delhi on Saturday, the total active cases in the national capital now stand at 69,799.

The city had reported 61,005 active cases on Friday and 54,309 active cases on Thursday. The number has gone up by 15,490 in three days.

According to Delhi Health Department, 167 more patients succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours.

The national capital had reported 19,486 new coronavirus cases and 141 deaths on Friday. The numbers reported on Friday were also the highest new daily cases in the city.

The national capital's COVID-19 count now stands at 8,27,998, including 7,46,239 recoveries while the death toll has gone up to 11,960.

As many as 99,230 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, including 69,206 RT-PCR/CBNAAT/TrueNat tests and 30,024 rapid antigen tests.

A positivity rate of 24.56 per cent has been reported, while tests per million count stand at 8,49,599.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that Delhi has a limited number of ICU beds and oxygen and ICU beds were decreasing very sharply.

The Chief Minister also spoke to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

"We are taking several steps to scale up beds capacity...I hope that we add 6,000 beds in two or three days. No one knows when the peak will come. The Central government gave 4,100 beds in November but this time only 1,800 beds have been given. I requested Dr Harsh Vardhan to reserve 50 per cent beds for COVID patients," he said.

India is currently witnessing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country saw the highest-ever single-day spike of COVID-19 cases on Saturday with over 2.34 lakh new cases and more than 1,300 deaths in last 24 hours.

( With inputs from ANI )