Delhi COVID-19 toll nears 150; total cases 9,755

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New Delhi, May 17 () Delhi reported 19 coronavirus deaths and 422 infections on Sunday, taking the total to 148 fatalities and 9,755 cases, authorities said.

The Delhi Health Department said the cumulative death figures refers to fatalities where the primary cause of death was found to be COVID-19 as per the report of the Death Audit Committee on the basis of case sheets received from various hospitals.

On Saturday, the total number of cases stood at 9,333 and fatalities at 129.

Of the total COVID-19 deaths, 77 were aged 60 and above and accounted for over 52 per cent of the fatalities.

Forty of them were aged between 50-59 years and 31 were less than 50 years, the department said in a bulletin.

After facing criticism for "under reporting" the COVID-19 deaths, the Delhi government on May 10 issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) for hospitals and other health facilities in the city on reporting fatalities due to the virus.

A total of 4,202 patients have recovered so far, while there are 5,405 active cases, the health department said.

An order has been issued for all healthcare facilities operating in Delhi to follow guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, dated May 15, for rationale use of Personal Protective Equipment in accordance with the risk involved.

A total of 1,35,791 COVID-19 tests have been conducted till date, it said.

The total number of COVID-19 patients under home isolation stands at 2,142, it said.

According to the bulletin, out of the 9,333 cases recorded till Saturday, at least 1,767 are admitted at various hospitals like LNJP Hospital, RML Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital and AIIMS Jhajjhar, adding 152 of them are in ICU and 21 on ventilators.

The number of containment zones in Delhi is 76. SLB ABHABH