Delhi May See 5.5 Lakh Cases by July 31; Centre says no Community Transmission of COVID-19: Sisodia

New Delhi: Officials from the Centre say there is no community transmission of COVID-19 in Delhi, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Tuesday. He estimated that there might be 5.5 lakh coronavirus cases in the city by July 31.

Delhi will need 80,000 beds by July end, he told reporters after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

The meeting was chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal who is also chairperson of the DDMA.

"Officials from the Centre said at the meeting that there is no community transmission of COVID-19 virus in Delhi," Sisodia told the media after meeting.

The lieutenant governor has refused to reconsider his decision to overrule the Delhi government's order reserving state-run and private hospitals for Delhiites, the deputy chief minister said.

He said the national capital may record 44,000 COVID-19 cases by June 15 and it would need 6,600 beds in hospitals.

"By June 30, there would be one lakh cases of coronavirus in Delhi and we will need 15,000 beds.

"It is estimated that Delhi will record 2.15 lakh cases by July 15 and 33,000 beds would be required. There might be 5.5 lakh cases by July 31 and Delhi would need 80,000 beds," Sisodia said.

Based on doubling rate, 5.5 lakh cases are expected to be reported in Delhi by July 31, he said.

He said that people living in Delhi also need beds during COVID-19 pandemic and in view of this, the Delhi Cabinet had recently taken the decision to reserve state-run and private hospitals for Delhiites.

In the meeting, nobody had an answer on availability of sufficient numbers of beds if COVID-19 cases continue to increase in the coming days in the national capital, Sisodia said.

"Who will take responsibility if there are no beds? If people are coming from all over the country, beds available in Delhi will be occupied within eight or ten days.

"As the LG has refused to reconsider his decision, we will try to serve the people of country and Delhi as well. We will also try to expand medical facilities," he added.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said the source of infection is "not known" in nearly half of the fresh cases being reported.

Interacting with reporters, he also said that the Arvind Kejriwal government was making all the preparations to handle the huge rush of patients estimated by June end.

"Epidemiologically, community transmission is third stage of the infection... In Delhi, of the new cases being reported, nearly half of the cases, the source of infection is not known," he said.

On Monday, Chief Minister Kejriwal said that the LG's order on hospitals had created a major problem and challenge for Delhiites.

The chief minister had said that providing treatment to people coming from all the over country was a big challenge during COVID-19 pandemic.

Delhi recorded 1,007 fresh coronavirus cases taking the COVID-19 tally in the city to over 29,000, and the death toll due to the disease mounted to 874.

Sixty-two COVID-19 patients died in Delhi from May 30 to June 6, and 27 of these fatalities occurred on June 5. These deaths were reported on June 7. The highest spike in fresh cases -- 1,513-- was recorded on June 3.

India's Virus Count Over 2.6 Lakh

A record rise in COVID-19 cases in India for the seventh consecutive day has pushed the tally to over 2.6 lakh on Tuesday, with the daily nationwide spike in coronavirus cases inching close to 10,000.

The rise in cases comes at a time when the country has stepped out of a 75-day coronavirus lockdown with malls, religious places and offices opening in several parts of the country under strict conditions.

Since the onset of June, the country has also been witnessing over 200 COVID-19 fatalities each day that has taken the country's death toll to 7,466.

India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil, Russia and the UK, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.  

Several states like Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Haryana, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Tripura among others have been showing a spurt in cases.

A total 266 new COVID-19 fatalities and 9,987 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours till Tuesday 8 a.m, according to the Union Health Ministry data. 

The country has registered over 9,000 coronavirus infection cases for the sixth day in a row taking the country tally to 2,66,598. 

The number of active novel coronavirus cases stands at 1,29,917, while 1,29,214 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, according to the Health Ministry data updated till 8 am.

"Thus, 48.47% patients have recovered so far," a ministry official said. 

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 49,16,116 samples have been tested as on 9 a.m, Tuesday, with 1,41,682 samples been tested in the last 24 hours.

Out of the total 7,466 fatalities reported till Tuesday 8 a.m, Maharashtra tops the tally with 3,169 deaths followed by Gujarat with 1,280 deaths, Delhi with 874, Madhya Pradesh with 414, West Bengal with 405, Tamil Nadu with 286, Uttar Pradesh with 283, Rajasthan with 246 and Telangana with 137 deaths.

The death toll reached 75 in Andhra Pradesh, 64 in Karnataka and 53 in Punjab.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 45 fatalities due to the coronavirus disease, while 39 deaths have been reported from Haryana, 31 from Bihar, 16 from Kerala, 13 from Uttarakhand, nine from Odisha and seven from Jharkhand.

Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have registered five COVID-19 fatalities each and Assam and Chhattisgarh have recorded four deaths each so far.

Meghalaya and Ladakh have reported one COVID-19 fatality each, according to ministry data.

More than 70% deaths are due to comorbidities, the ministry's website stated

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 88,528 followed by Tamil Nadu at 33,229, Delhi at 29,943, Gujarat at 20,545, Uttar Pradesh at 10,947, Rajasthan at 10,763 and Madhya Pradesh at 9,638, according to the Health Ministry's data updated in the morning.

The number of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 8,613 in West Bengal, 5,760 in Karnataka, 5,202 in Bihar and 4,854 in Haryana.  

It has risen to 4,851 in Andhra Pradesh, 4,285 in Jammu and Kashmir, 3,650 in Telangana and 2,994 in Odisha.

Punjab has reported 2,663 novel coronavirus cases so far, while Assam has 2,776 cases. A total of 2,005 people have been infected by the virus in Kerala and 1,411 in Uttarakhand.

Jharkhand has registered 1,256 cases, while 1,160 cases have been reported from Chhattisgarh, 838 from Tripura, 421 from Himachal Pradesh, 330 from Goa and 317 from Chandigarh.

Manipur has 272 cases, Puducherry has 127 and Nagaland has reported 123 cases till now.

Ladakh has 103 COVID-19 cases, Arunachal Pradesh has 51, Mizoram has 42, Meghalaya 36 while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections so far.

Dadar and Nagar Haveli has 22 cases, while Sikkim has reported seven cases till now.

The ministry's website said that 8,803 cases are being reassigned to states and "our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR".

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.