Delhi recorded 11,491 Covid-19 cases on Monday, the highest single-day surge in the national capital till date, while 72 more people died due to the disease, according to data shared by the health department.
The positivity rate rose to 12.44 per cent from 9.43 per cent a day ago.
The 72 deaths are the highest since December 5 when 77 deaths were recorded.
The city had recorded 131 Covid-19 deaths on November 19, the highest single-day fatality count till date.
The cumulative coronavirus case count stands at 7,36,688, and the death toll is now 11,355, according to the latest health bulletin.
The fresh cases came out of the over 92,397 lakh tests conducted the previous day.
On Sunday, the city had reported 10,772 cases and 48 deaths.
Delhi recorded 7,897 Covid-19 cases and 39 deaths on Saturday. The positivity rate had also mounted to 10.21 per cent, breaching the 10-per cent mark for the first time this year.
The positivity rate was above 15 per cent in mid-November last year.
On Friday, 8,521 Covid-19 cases and 39 deaths were recorded in the national capital. This was also the first time that more than 8,000 cases were recorded in a day this year amid a massive spike in cases over the last few weeks.
On Thursday, the city recorded 7,437 cases. On the two preceding days, the number of cases stood above 5,000.
The number of active cases rose to 38,095 from 34,341 a day before.
The number of people under home isolation increased to 19,354 from 17,093 on Sunday while the number of containment zones increased to 6,175 from 5,705, the bulletin said.
The Delhi government on Monday declared 14 private hospitals in the city as "full Covid-19" hospitals and directed them not to admit any non-Covid patients till further orders.
These include the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Holy Family Hospital, and Max SS Hospital and Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh.
Nineteen private hospitals have been directed to reserve at least 80 per cent of their ICU beds for Covid-related treatment.
Eighty-two private hospitals have been asked to set aside at least 60 per cent of their ICU beds for coronavirus patients, according to the order issued by the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS).
"Furthermore, 101 private hospitals are directed to reserve at least 60 per cent of their ward bed capacity for Covid-related treatment," the order read.
The Health Department, in another order, said the number of ICU beds without ventilator in six Delhi government-run hospitals has been increased to 487.
There are now 1,913 non-ICU Covid beds in these hospitals as against 1,320 earlier.
The six government hospitals are Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, Burari Hospital, DDU Hospital, Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital and Ambedkar Nagar Hospital.
The government issued another order, engaging AYUSH students currently in their fourth and fifth years as interns to meet the increased demand of manpower considering the surge in coronavirus cases.
Asserting that the Covid-19 situation in Delhi is "very serious", the chief minister had on Sunday said the government is closely monitoring the situation and is not in favour of complete lockdown.
In just a few weeks, Delhi has gone from near-normalcy -- with less than 100 cases reported on a single day on February 16 -- to an exploding pandemic, a grim reminder that the virus is continuing to extract its toll.
The CM had said his government does not want to impose lockdown in Delhi, but such a situation may arise if there is a rush to hospitals and beds are unavailable for serious patients.
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