48% beds vacant in Covid hospitals

NUMBERS PLATEAU BMC starts shutting down isolation facilities for slum dwellers; experts say shouldn’t unlock in a hurry

(6,493 deaths)

Pune (3,477 deaths) (2,286 deaths) (399 deaths) (507 deaths) (546 deaths) (528 deaths) (125 deaths) (76 deaths) (127* deaths) (151 deaths) (108 deaths) (86 deaths)

MAHARASHTRA (123 deaths) (113 deaths) (68 deaths) (83 deaths) (78 deaths) (66 deaths) (42 deaths) (90 deaths) (54 deaths) (30 deaths) (23 deaths) (25 deaths)

MUMBAI : With the daily cases plateauing, 9,698 (48%) of the 19,886 beds in Covid-19 hospitals and Covid-19 care centres are vacant in the city, according to data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). A total of 4,774 (46%) of the 10,399 oxygen beds are vacant. In case of ICU beds, 314 (18%) of 1,762 beds are vacant, while 152 (15%) of the 1,032 ventilators are not in use.

For almost a month, the city has been reporting 1,000-1,200 cases daily. According to BMC officials and experts from the state Covid-19 task force, the numbers will remain the same in the coming days and even go down, according to the global trend.

BMC said it has started to shut down Covid-19 care centres in the city that used to act as isolation facilities for slum dwellers. The civic body will now focus on high-rises, as 80% of the cases in the past one month are from non-slum areas. On Monday, Mumbai recorded 970 fresh cases and 46 new deaths, taking the city’s case tally to 117,406 and toll to 6,493. The number of discharged patients in Mumbai was 90,089, with a recovery rate of 76.73% and active cases at 20,528. The fatality rate was 5.53%, and the doubling rate 78 days. One hot spot that has shown signs of drastic improvement – Dharavi – recorded 12 new cases on Monday, bringing the area’s case count to 2,585, of which 2,251 have been discharged. On August 2, Mumbai conducted only 5,374 cases, taking the total tests to 5.51 lakh, with an overall positivity rate of 21.10%.

The civic body has maintained the period up to September-end will remain crucial for Mumbai. Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner, had earlier told HT the period till the monsoon is going to be crucial for Mumbai, and the relaxations will be given in a phased manner. A BMC official said, “We are testing double the number of samples that we were testing a month or two earlier. Even though it is being done using rapid antigen kits, it has helped contain the virus.”

Experts claim authorities should not unlock in haste. Dr Shashank Joshi, member of Maharashtra’s Covid-19 task force, said, “The daily positive cases have plateaued, and it is a positive sign, but we have to unlock it in a phased manner. We must be mindful while shutting down Covid-19 facilities. In the coming days, I feel the situation will only improve, but there

(15 deaths) (36 deaths) (17 deaths) (1 death) (7 deaths) (3 deaths) (1 death) (2 deaths) (4 deaths)

are no future projections. Globally, the situation has only improved as days passed. The numbers may go down further because we have done everything to control cases by tracing, testing and quarantining.”