Bed occupancy under 3% in major cities even as Covid cases top 37,000

Masks make a comeback in several states and cities, over 33,000 govt and private health facilities join mock drills

As the two-day mock drill to check the preparedness for Covid-19 concluded on Tuesday, data showed that less than 3 per cent hospital beds in major cities were occupied by those infected by the virus. This coincided with active Covid-19 cases crossing 37,000.        

In the past 24 hours itself, India reported 5,676 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the daily positivity rate to 2.88 per cent. Despite the steady rise in cases, only 358 Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered in the past 24 hours.

The Union Health Ministry called the mock-drill “a massive countrywide exercise in India’s fight against Covid-19’’. The exercise was conducted across 35 states and union territories spanning 724 districts. Some 33,685 health facilities, including 28,050 government units and 5,635 private health set-ups, participated in the drill, responding to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s recent call to states to review their preparedness.

The review covered critical medical infrastructure and resources, including oxygen beds, isolation beds, ventilators, PSA plants, liquid medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators, oxygen cylinders, as well as medicines and PPE kits. Orientation of medical staff on Covid-19 management was also part of the  drills, according to the health ministry.

Meanwhile, a Business Standard analysis showed that most beds in key major cities remained unoccupied.

Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai had more than 97 per cent of available beds lying vacant, according to the latest available data. The occupancy rate in Mumbai was 2.4 per cent, it was 1.7 per cent in Delhi and 0.4 per cent in Chennai. Delhi and Chennai data is as of April 9, while that for Mumbai is as of April 10.

The Delhi numbers primarily reflect increased occupancy in dedicated Covid-19 hospitals. Occupancy in dedicated Covid-19 care centres and health centres was zero. A total of 8,132 beds are available for Covid-19 patients in Delhi, according to the Delhi government data. A total of 136 out of 8,132 beds in Delhi have been occupied.

Chennai numbers show seven oxygen beds occupied out of 4,159. A total of 20 non-oxygen beds have been occupied out of the available 2,069. All 987 intensive care unit beds are vacant. Overall, 27 out of 7,215 beds are occupied.  

Mumbai shows 37 oxygen beds occupied out of 2,099. Some 34 intensive care unit beds out of 875 are occupied. Eight ventilator beds are in use out of the available 522. Around 110 of the remaining 4,359 Covid-19 beds are currently occupied in the financial capital. So, there are 189 occupied beds out of 7,855.

The positivity rate has risen from 2.1 per cent in the beginning of April to 4.1 per cent as of April 11 (chart 2). The average daily number of cases on April 11 was at 5,676, according to government data. The seven-day rolling average number of cases is 79 per cent higher than it was a week ago.

Some 196,796 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, against 164,740 in the same period last week, shows data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Apart from government hospitals and medical colleges, community health centers and private health facilities joined the Covid-19 mock drill.

Several states have brought back fresh Covid-19 protocol, especially the mask mandate. Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and Haryana are some of them.

Adar Poonawalla urges elderly to take Covovax booster

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla on Tuesday urged the elderly to mask up and take the Covovax booster dose which is now available on CoWIN, saying it is approved in the US and Europe. According to sources, Covovax has now received the Centre’s nod to be administered as a mix and match booster after Covaxin and Covishield. SII has an inventory of 6 million doses that can be immediately made available to private hospitals.