Delhi has reported a sharp spike in coronavirus cases in recent days.
With the highest single-day spike of 2,137 COVID-19 cases, Delhi's tally of coronavirus infections crossed the 36,000-mark on Friday as the number of deaths due to the disease climbed to 1,214, authorities said.
According to the Delhi health department, 71 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. The total number of coronavirus cases mounted to 36,824, it said in a bulletin, adding that 58 fatalities, that took place between May 9 and June 6, were also declared on Friday.
This is the first time that over 2,000 cases have been reported in a day in Delhi, which has the third highest number of coronavirus cases in India after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. The previous biggest jump in fresh cases at 1,877 was recorded on Thursday.
The health department, however, added 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.
The alarming numbers came on day when the Supreme Court pulled up the Delhi government over the "horrendous, horrific and pathetic" situation in the national capital and said coronavirus patients are being treated "worse than animals".
Seeking a response from Delhi, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and the central government as it took followed up reports of improper handling of COVID-19 patients and disposal of bodies in the country, the court asked the Arvind Kejriwal government to explain the fall in testing in the city.
Amid harrowing accounts of people struggling to get a hospital bed in the capital, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia this week said that Delhi's infections of coronavirus will climb to 5.5 lakh by the end of July and it does not have the hospital capacity to handle such an outbreak.
Despite a strict imposed in March, the disease is spreading in India at one of the world's fastest rates as it re-opens a battered economy. The caseload stood at nearly 3 lakh, the world's fourth largest, and overtook the United Kingdom on Thursday.