The Delhi high court on Thursday expressed concern over rise in COVID-19 cases in the national capital and questioned the Aam Aadmi Party government's "doing everything under the Sun to 'unlock' things".

The high court said the Delhi government cannot be allowed to play with the lives of citizens and the state is responsible for the health of citizens for which others have to chip in, including private hospitals.

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad said the Delhi government has to be much more alive to the current situation which the whole city can see for itself.

The high court was hearing a plea by the Delhi government urging it to empower it to enforce reservation of 80 per cent of ICU beds for COVID-19 patients in 33 private hospitals at least for 15 days in view of the rise in the number of cases.

Delhi recorded its biggest single-day jump of 8,593 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday that took its infection tally to over 4.59 lakh people, while 85 new fatalities pushed the national capital's death toll to 7,228.