41% Covid beds vacant; BMC to ramp up infra for children

Mumbai records 2,664 Covid-19 cases and 62 deaths; there are 52,874 active cases; positivity rate is 7.9%

MUMBAI: The steady decline in the number of Covid-19 cases reported daily in Mumbai for the past few days has resulted in 41% of the 23,209 Covid beds across hospitals being vacant, as of Saturday morning.

A total of 9,675 beds, 4,787 oxygen beds, 180 intensive care unit (ICU) beds and 32 ventilator beds are now vacant. Meanwhile, the BMC will now begin to ramp up its hospital beds and infrastructure for children and infants, projecting rising Covid-19 infections in kids during a possible third wave.

Mumbai on Saturday recorded 2,664 Covid-19 cases and 62 deaths, taking the toll to 673,235 and the tally to 13,713. There are 52,874 active Covid-19 cases in the city, as of Saturday. Mumbai on Friday conducted 33,378 tests, which have shown Saturday’s cases with a positivity rate of 7.9%. So far, Mumbai has conducted a total of 5,677,780 Covid-19 tests. Mumbai on Friday reported 3,040 cases while on Thursday the city had recorded 3,028 cases.

On Wednesday it reported 3,882 cases, on Tuesday it reported 2,554 cases, and on Monday it reported 2,624 cases. In the past eight days, since May 1, Mumbai has reported a total of 24,764 Covid-19 cases, as opposed to 77,207 cases reported in the first eight days of April.

On April 4, Mumbai reported its highest ever spike in a single day so far: 11,206 Covid cases. Throughout April,

Mumbai has reported a total of 233,698 cases.

To equip hospital infrastructure for paediatrics and ensure enough hospital beds are available for children and infants in a possible third wave of Covid-19, BMC had a discussion with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday, its preparedness on this front.

Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner in charge of BMC’S public health department said, “Four points were discussed. BMC will partly convert existing maternity wards in hospitals into paediatric Covid beds; private paediatric hospitals have been asked to get ready with the infrastructure to handle Covid-19 cases in children and infants; three maternity homes, one each in Island City, eastern suburbs and western suburbs will be made into dedicated Covid-19 hospitals for children; and the new jumbo facilities will have separate wards for kids who are Covid-19 positive.”