While the BMC has converted Nair hospital to treat COVID-19 patients, it also shifted 1,054 positive patients to Corona Care Centres in the last seven days to decongest the overflowing hospitals. But going by the increasing number of patients and few discharged patients, it is proving of a little help to the civic body.

The BMC had come up with a plan to decongest hospital while allowing beds to symptomatic, high-risk new patients. So as per new strategy, they moved asymptomatic positive patients without co-morbidities to CCC2.

"So far, from April 18 to April 22, the civic body has shifted 1,054 positive patients from all the COVID-19 hospitals who completed five days of treatment," Ashwini Bhide, additional commissioner with the BMC deputed for a COVID-19 duty said. Out of 1,054 patients, 709 positive patients were shifted on April 17 and 18.

"The intension is to reduce the burden on hospitals and the mortality rate. The patients will be looked after by healthcare professionals and at the same time symptomatic, serious patients will get more attention," a senior doctor with the BMC said.

According to the doctor, after treatment for five days, the viral shedding is very low and it cannot be transmitted to other people. As per the records with the BMC more than 80 per cent of the patients are asymptomatic in the city.

While it immediately helped new patients to get proper treatment, it won't come in handy for a long. The number of cured patients is way below than the number of new patients reported. In the last seven days, the number of patients increased by 250 to 300 per day, but the number of beds has not increased.

Even the rate of discharged patients hasn't increased much. In the last eight days, only 134 people were discharged. So theoretically 1,188 beds got vacant whereas the number of positive patients increased by 2,112.

The BMC has made a provision for the institutional quarantine, which is referred to as CCC1, where people with high-risk contacts but without any symptoms are placed. The number of such people increased to 5,069 from 3,543 on April 18.

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