Admissions down, discharges up in Delhi as Covid positivity rate falls

NEW DELHI: With the positivity rate and daily count of Covid-19 cases dipping steadily, the pressure on the medical infrastructure including hospital occupancy in Delhi has also eased down considerably. On Sunday, only 412 new Covid-19 patients were admitted to the hospitals while 905 were discharged after recovery. This is the lowest tally for admissions since April 5 when the infection began to shoot up in the national capital.On April 1, the city recorded 294 Covid admissions and 139 patients were released on the same day. However, the number breached the 500-mark on April 6 with 541 admissions and 269 discharges.

With the Covid situation improving in Delhi, the gap between the number of hospitalisation cases and discharge from the hospital is also widening. The trend reversed a week ago when the number of hospital admission plummeted and the daily tally of discharged patients began to increase for the first time since the coronavirus situation in Delhi started to deteriorate this year as a new Covid wave hit the city.

“Delhi managed to reach this level after much struggle. Situation has improved. People should continue to take strictest precautions. Another indicator of improvement is a fall in daily calls to 1031 Covid helpline, which have reduced significantly. Lockdown has been successful in breaking the chain of the infection. When the Covid cases peaked in April, almost 450 calls were being made to the helpline seeking bed availability status every day, which have come down to below 150,” said a government official.

Given the spike in infection cases in Delhi, the medical infrastructure had collapsed and relatives and friends of Covid patients had been scurrying for beds in hospitals.According to the officials, the Covid infection is subsiding in the city hence the requirement of non-intensive care units (ICUs) admissions have come down sharply but the ICU occupancy has not fallen relatively.“Still ICU beds occupancy is higher. One reason could be that more serious patients are taking longer to recover,” said the official.

Till 8 pm on Monday, 19, 640 hospital beds, out of 28, 438 units, were vacant in various hospitals across the city. Over 16, 000 of them were oxygen beds. The numbers of vacant Covid ICU beds and ICU beds with ventilators were 2,627 and 573 respectively.  

According to the officials, a perceptible shift in mortality rate cohorts towards younger people in the current wave of the Covid pandemic. “In January, 62 per cent of Covid deaths in Delhi were in the 60 plus age group. This fell to 50 per cent in April. Share of the 18-45 age group went up from 13 to 18 per cent and the 45-60 age group from 25 to 32 percent,” said a government official.