65% active Covid cases

Around 65 % of the 441 current active cases are seeking treatment in the hospital while 35% are in home isolation

Around 65 % of the 441 current active cases are seeking treatment in the hospital while 35% are in home isolation. Among the 65% seeking treatment over 28% are still in Intensive Care Unit or on Oxygen beds while 2.9% are on ventilators. Another 33% are under observation in Dedicated Covid Health centres where serious or patients with complicated cases are admitted. Hardly, 0.9% is admitted to Covid Care Centres which are quarantine centres, as among the 441 active patients currently, 35% are under home quarantine.

A woman grieves the death of her relative in Thane Civil Hospital, in Thane, Mumbai, on April 21. (HT file)

The number of Covid cases is decreasing with each passing day and the city is currently recording 98.16% recovery rate. However, most of the positive cases recorded continue to seek oxygen or ICU beds.

A senior officer from TMC, said, “With other monsoon related illnesses at its peak, sometimes people take the symptoms lightly causing delay in getting medical attention. In such instances the positive patients have to get admitted and need oxygen support.”

“Currently, we have 7% occupancy in ICU and 2.1% occupancy for Oxygen beds. The active patients are reducing and the overall growth rate of Covid cases in the last one week is 0.03%. We have observed during the onset of the second wave that fatalities were more when positive patients sought medical help more than a week after they noticed symptoms. It is essential to understand one’s symptoms and reach out to a medical practitioner for proper care even during home quarantine. We have TMC’s dedicated call centre that keeps a tab on all patients, through this if we notice any symptoms we reach out to the patients’ family and ask them to get admitted at the earliest,” said Vipin Sharma, Commissioner, TMC.

TMC has a total of 9163 beds; from these 4166 are Dedicated Covid Hospitals or Dedicated Covid Healthcentres. Around 2723 beds are with oxygen support; 975 ICU beds, 895 Covid Care Centres and 404 Ventilators. While the occupancy of ventilators and Covid Care Centres is the least at 13 patients and 4 patients respectively; Dedicated Covid hospitals or healthcare centres have 147 patients.

Currently, the city has an overall occupancy of only 4% beds. In mid-April when the cases were at its peak 80% beds were occupied; a shortage of beds and oxygen was also witnessed during the second wave. As per the state government guidelines, any municipal corporation needs to ensure that there is around 15% availability of beds from among the total positive cases; however it has been noticed that Thane city had a 30% demand for beds during both the first and second wave.

Dr Sanjay Pingulkar, General Physician, said, “Unlike earlier when it was difficult to make provisions for so many beds and oxygen facility, currently there are facilities available and it becomes natural for positive patients to get admitted. However, if compared to earlier, the numbers continue to remain lower of those who are in ICU or under oxygen support, this is due to the evolved medical practices surrounding Covid 19. Alongwith home quarantine for those who have mild symptoms if we continue to maintain social distance, sanitise and wear masks at all times, we can avoid a panic situation in case of a probable third wave.”