No. of COVID-19 cases mounts to 445 in Delhi; 301 from Nizamuddin Markaz: Authorities

The number of coronavirus cases mounted to 445 in the national capital on Saturday, with 59 fresh cases being reported, according to the Delhi health department.

The total cases include 301 people who took part in a religious congregation in Nizamuddin last month.

Till Friday night, the number of cases of the deadly virus stood at 386 in the city, including six deaths.

Among the fresh cases, 42 were from the Nizamuddin Markaz, the department said in a statement.

Of the total cases, 15 have been discharged and one has migrated out of the country.

In an online briefing on Wednesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said 536 people were admitted to hospitals and 1,810 sent to quarantine facilities from the Nizamuddin area, where the religious congregation took place.

According to the health department, 58 of the total cases were people who had travelled abroad, 40 of them had come in contact with affected persons and 301 came from the Markaj (centre) in the Nizamuddin area.

Over 2,000 delegates, including from Indonesia and Malaysia, attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin West from March 1-15, officials said on Monday as the south Delhi neighbourhood was virtually sealed off earlier following fears that some of the attendees may have contracted COVID-19.

The civic authorities have carried out mass sanitisation and a disinfection drive in Nizamuddin over the last few days, using drones and other measures.

According to the Delhi health department, of the total 445 cases recorded so far, 423 are admitted at various hospitals, including LNJP Hospital, GTB Hospital, RML Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (RGSSH) and AIIMS, Jhajjhar.

The total number of COVID-19 samples sent for testing stood at 3,694 till date and the results of 445 were positive, the department said.

As many as 3,531 people were kept in quarantine at various government facilities, it added.

A total of 22,794 people, who had come in contact with affected persons, were under home quarantine and 4,196 had completed their 14-day quarantine, the department said.

The number of ventilators at the disposal of the Delhi government stood at 243, while the figures for PPE kits and sanitisers were 3,261 and 22,366 respectively, it had said on Thursday.