Civic officials said this is to ensure that mildly symptomatic patients do not occupy hospital beds. In the last 48 days since the second Covid-19 wave began, the city has recorded 85,000 cases. Reiterating that there is no shortage of beds in Mumbai, Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said on Tuesday that around 80 to 85 per cent of the active Covid-19 cases in the city are asymptomatic at present and the patients do not require hospitalisation.
He, however, maintained that private hospitals found directly admitting Covid-19 patients will be penalised. “All hospital beds will be allotted through the 24 ward war rooms. No one should try to procure positive Covid-19 test reports directly from the labs. Else, they will find it difficult to get a bed anywhere. Let the labs inform us of the names of the infected persons at night, we will go to their homes and allot them beds in hospitals early next morning, as we have been doing since last June,” he told mediapersons after taking his first dose of vaccine at the BKC jumbo centre.
Civic officials said this is to ensure that mildly symptomatic patients do not occupy hospital beds.
In the last 48 days since the second Covid-19 wave began, the city has recorded 85,000 cases. Of the infected, while 69,500 are asymptomatic, around 15,000 have mild symptoms. Among these 15,000, only 8,000 patients required hospitalisation, Chahal said.
Mumbai is recording between 6,000 to 7,000 cases daily, of which 10 to 15 per cent patients are seeking hospitalisation. As of March 29, there are 45,140 active cases in the city. While 17 per cent (8,049) of the patients are symptomatic, 556 are critical. Chahal said that since February 10, the ratio between asymptomatic and symptomatic cases has been stable in the range of 80:20.
“With the lowest death rate in the country, availability of beds in hospital, positivity rate under control and nearly 80 per cent asymptomatic (not requiring hospitalisation) cases, there is no reason to panic. We have acquired additional beds… People requiring private hospitals’ services will also get beds,” he added.
By next Monday, 7,000 beds will be available in private hospitals, he said. There is also a sufficient number of ventilators (250) and ICU beds (650) available, said the commissioner.
As demand for beds in private hospitals increased in the city, BMC added 2,269 isolation beds, including 360 ICUs, in private hospitals over last week. Also, 69 nursing homes are being taken over, said Chahal.
BMC further plans to operationalise 1,500 beds in jumbo centres this week. Currently, there are 3,000 vacant beds across Mumbai, including 450 beds in private hospitals. Chahal said that BMC plans to increase the number of tests per day from the current 45,000 to 60,000.
On night curfew in Mumbai, he added, “It is not a lockdown. The state government order restricts the assembly of more than five persons. Trains and buses will continue to run, one can travel in their private cars as long as there are not more than 5 persons. But to ensure that the virus does not spread from night clubs, restaurants, malls and markets, we want them to shut down after 8 pm for a few weeks.”
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