More Covid patients in city hospitals after 2-week lull

SPIKE ATTRIBUTED TO HOSPITALS ADMITTING AT-RISK PATIENTS AT AN EARLY STAGE AND INCREASE IN NUMBER OF PATIENTS FROM OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL

nNEW DELHI: Hospitalisation from coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Delhi has stayed above 3,000 since Thursday after registering a steady decline in the two preceding weeks, shows data from the daily health bulletins released by the Delhi government.

Clinicians in Covid-19 wards and hospital administrators say the spike in the number is both because hospitals are choosing to admit at-risk patients at an early stage of infection to save lives, and an increase in the number of patients from other states getting tested and treated in Delhi.

With over 1.3 lakh recoveries, 90% of those who were diagnosed with the infection have recovered, shows government data.

“Over 90% of Corona patients in Delhi have now recovered. Only 7% cases are active now. Slowly and steadily, the people of Delhi are defeating Corona. #Delhimodel,” Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted on Monday.

More than 3,000 people with Covid-19 have been hospitalised in Delhi over the past five days -the number had stayed below 3,000 for 11 days with the exception of July 29, when 3028 people were in hospitals. On July 28, 2,775 people with Covid-19 needed hospitalisation, the data shows.

On Monday, 3,115 Covid patients were in city hospitals. This accounted for 30% of the total active cases or those still living with the infection. The rest of the patients are either admitted to Covid Care Centres or are in home isolation.

This proportion has been on the rise since the first week of July when on average 21% of the active cases needed hospitalisation.

“We are admitting people early on and taking them into the intensive care units (ICUS) before they start developing complications like multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. The referrals from other smaller centres or noncovid hospitals are also happening in a timely manner. This has resulted in better outcomes for the Covid-19 patients,” said Dr Suresh Kumar, medical director, of the 2,000-bed Lok Nayak hospital, which is Delhi’s biggest Covid-19 centre.

This could be one of the reasons for increase in the number of hospitalisations in the city, even as the number of active cases has remained around 10,000 for two weeks.

Another reason for the increase in the number of admissions is the influx of patients from the neighbouring states, said Dr Kumar.

This is a trend observed by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences as well.

“Yes, there has been an increase in the number of admissions, but not too much – at the trauma centre the numbers have gone up to about 160 from the average of 120. I don’t think it is worrying but we need to keep our guards up,” said Dr DK Sharma, medical superintendent, All India Institute of Medical sciences (AIIMS) Delhi.

Earlier, the Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday had said that about 35% beds earmarked for the treatment of Covid-19 in Delhi are occupied by patients from other states.

“The increase in the hospitalisation rate is a very positive sign. I think people are now coming forward. Earlier, they were scared of going to hospitals. This also shows that the protocols have become well-established and receptive,” said Dr Jugal Kishore, head of the department of community medicine at Safdarjung hospital, adding, “The other reason could be that patients from other states have started to come here for treatment.”