The exponential rise of 55 per cent in Covid-19 cases during the last 24 hours to 58,097 and the first death due to the highly-transmissible Omicron variant on Wednesday coincided with 3 to 7 per cent hospitalisation in all major metros in the country. This is in sharp contrast with the Delta wave in 2020 when the pan-India hospitalisation rate was 20 per cent. Among those hospitalised, the number of patients needing oxygen is negligible. The majority of the infections are mild or asymptomatic.

In Delhi, the official data said the total number of Covid-19 cases was 10,665 on Wednesday, with a positivity rate of about 11.88 per cent. Of these, about 7 per cent, i.e. 708 were hospitalised. Among these 708 hospitalised patients, 551 remained “mild and asymptomatic”. About 2.8 per cent, 22 patients were in ICU with ventilator support.

In Mumbai, said Health Ministry sources, hospitalisation was 5 per cent. A top Government source said more than 95 per cent of the cases are in home isolation. Similar trends are reported from smaller cities. In Rajasthan, from where the first Omicron related death was reported, health officers reported lower hospitalisation. The deceased was a 73-year-old man from Udaipur who initially recovered from Omicron but succumbed due to high diabetes and hypertension, said a State Government source. In Jaipur, for instance,there are 700 Covid-19 patients. Of these, 23 are admitted to the hospitals.

“Only six patients are in the ICU,” a State level official told BusinessLine ..

W est Bengal

Officials at both government and private hospitals confirmed that hospitalisation is negligible, and even among those hospitalised, there has not been much requirement for critical care beds.

West Bengal health department portal reflects the percentage of occupancy in Covid beds to be approximately 3.25 per cent. The total number of hospitals dedicated for treating Covid-19 is close to 203. The number of government hospitals dedicated to treating patients infected with the virus is 196. The total number of ICU/HDU beds in Covid hospitals in the State is 4139.

Tamil Nadu

At Chennai’s Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital (RGGGH), of the 528 normal beds, 317 are vacant. Of 385 ICU beds, 379 are vacant. There are 1,137 oxygen supported beds of which 1,118 are vacant. Out of the total 2,050 beds, 1,814 are empty. At the Omandurar Medical Hospital, out of the total 500 beds, 264 are vacant. All the 50 regular beds are occupied. However, out of the 280 oxygen supported beds, 114 are vacant and out of the 170 ICU beds, 150 are vacant.

Similarly, at the Government Corona Hospital, Guindy (Kings Institute Campus), out of the 650 beds nearly half are vacant. Half of the 448 oxygen support beds are empty, and out of the 102 ICU beds, 90 are vacant,says government data.

Karnataka

In Karnataka, too, bed occupancy at some of the major hospitals in the state remained relatively low. Dr R Srinivasa, Resident Medical Officer at Victoria Hospital,Bengaluru,said, “There has only been a little increase in admission of Covid-19 patients in the last few days.” The ICU occupancy is also extremely low with just one to two patients. Dr Arunkumar C, Medical Superintendent at Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) Hubballi, said, “The hospital has only five Covid-19 patients, three of them have been admitted in the last three days.” Only patients with serious symptoms, breathing issues or old ones have been admitted. The ICU occupancy, too, is minuscule, he added.

The Medical Superintendent at Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital,Dr Praveen Kumar,said t no Covid-19 cases in the hospital. “We do not expect the third wave to be as fatal as the previous waves. As many people are already vaccinated with two doses, we don’t think there will be a need for (large scale) hospitalisation for infected patients this time,” he explained.

“Most of the patients are going for hospitalisation out of panic. They have very mild symptoms like sore throat, fever, body aches or cough,. They can home isolate themselves and recover,”Dr Yogesh Kumar Gupta, Head of Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Fortis Hospitals, Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru, told BusinessLine . He added that in the last ten days, nearly 5-6 people are getting themselves admitted to hospital as compared with 15-20 people during delta wave.

Maharashtra

The Rao Nursing Home on Satara road in Pune was flooded with patients during the second wave. Dr Manish Kolge handling Covid-19 cases at Rao Nursing Home told BusinessLine that last Monday, he was treating 4 active Covid-19 patients and within a week the number has gone up to 25. Dr Kolge said, “The number of critical patients is low and the symptoms found in active patients are usually mild to moderate. Upper respiratory tract symptoms are found in some patients”. He added that the deterioration of symptoms that was witnessed during the second wave is absent right now. “The symptoms in patients with co-morbidities who are vaccinated are not severe,” said Dr Kolge. In Pune Metropolitan Region (PMR) there were 5,617 active Covid-19 patients till Monday of which 607 are hospitalized and 4,920 are in home quarantine.

Hospitals in Thane and Mumbai do not see a rise in Covid patients with severe symptoms yet. Sagar Joshi, Covid Reporting Officer,Thane Civil Hospital said it is a 100 per cent Covid facility with a total capacity of 260 beds. While there is an increase in cases, most have only mild to moderate symptoms.

“Of the 40 ICU beds, just 5 are occupied with 2 on ventilators,” Joshi said.

At Vedant Hospital, Dr Suraj Teli, Medical Administration Officer, said: “We have Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms. None of our patients have so far have needed ventilators and oxygen. There is only one patient in the ICU.”

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