No COVID-19 death has taken place in the first week of July among people put in home isolation in Delhi even as daily death toll here due to coronavirus has shown a sharp decline, according to a study conducted by the Delhi government.

The Health Department studied and analysed 691 COVID-19 deaths between June 24 and July 8. According to the findings, the number of daily deaths in Delhi has reduced.

"Out of a total of 691 deaths in the last fortnight, only seven deaths occurred in home isolation, between June 24 and June 30. Not a single death has occurred in July of any patient in home isolation," stated the report.

This week, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had directed the Health Department to submit a detailed report along with an analysis of the factors behind the COVID-19 deaths in the last fortnight. The report was submitted on July 10.

The study claimed that the city's overall death rate has come down to 3.02 percent from 3.64 percent in June. Less than 50 deaths are being recorded daily, while the fresh cases are hovering around 2,000 in the last fortnight.

"From a high of 101 daily deaths in mid-June, the figure has come down to around 46 deaths a day during the last fortnight, marking a significant improvement," it said.

The lower death rate could be attributed to the Chief Minister's decision to distribute oximeters to all patients put in home isolation, which helped alert patients about dropping oxygen levels -- an early sign of deteriorating health.

Of the total deaths, 505 patients were in serious condition when admitted to hospitals. As many as 291 of these were already in hospital when tested positive. The study found a delay in hospital admission in case of only 28 patients.

On Friday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held a review meeting to discuss the measures to further reduce COVID-19 mortality rate. Since, almost all deaths had taken place in hospitals, it was felt that the systems in each hospital needed to be examined in detail.

Kejriwal has asked for ratio of deaths to total number of patients discharged for each hospital. Hospitals with low ratios would mean better management.

"Good practices in these hospitals would be studied and improvements made in those hospitals where more deaths are taking place. The Chief Minister will continue monitoring all the serious cases on a daily basis," government officials said.  (IANS)