India’s capital, Delhi, in recent weeks, has witnessed a dramatic increase in the cases of COVID-19 as winter surges and air pollution increases.
As temperature plummeted, on Wednesday alone, the city confirmed its highest daily record yet of more than 8,500 cases and added 85 deaths in a day.
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The sharp spike in cases after a months-long lull has also put pressure on hospitals – more than half the available beds are already occupied, BBC reports.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written to the federal government asking for more beds at government hospitals as public pressure mounts.
Even though the disease had been on the decline from the middle of September as daily case counts dropped from nearly 100,000 to as low as 37,000, at 8.6m and counting, India comes second in the world’s highest caseload, after the United States..
The capital city has seen an alarming spike in recent weeks, recording more new cases than any other state in the country. The capital has confirmed just over 450,000 cases so far, with some 42,000 active cases.
According to experts, the two factors responsible for the spike are the surge in winter and dangerously high levels of air pollution. Both have worsened the efforts being put by the authorities to control the virus.
Doctors say the the pandemic is raging inside the city’s hospitals, where free beds are getting filled up by the minute.
