Kolkata: Despite the daily Covid infected cases crossing 20,000 mark in Bengal on an average basis, the hospital admission rate has been much on the lower side this time compared to the last wave.
On Tuesday state has seen over 21,000 fresh cases whereas the hospital admission rate is around 5.28 per cent. According to sources, only 5.28 per cent of Covid beds in the state have been filled so far. There are around 33,000 Covid beds in the state.
A comparative study says that during the last wave, the hospital admission rate remained around 40 per cent when the daily infection reached its peak during May last year. For example on May 14 last year, the daily infected cases stood at 20,846 and the number of fatalities reported at 136 that day. On Tuesday, around 21,098 infected cases have been reported across the state and the number of deaths was recorded at 19. The recovery rate in Bengal was registered at 93.20 per cent on Tuesday.
The city doctors, however, warned that if large scale infection continues for long the number of fatalities will gradually increase even though the daily death is much below this time.
The intensity of infection is much lesser compared to the third wave when the delta variant caused many more fatalities. This time less number of patients are requiring oxygen support compared to that of in the previous wave. The nature and symptoms of ailments are different when it varies from Delta to Omicron.
Some doctors have opined that it has almost become like a viral fever for many patients this time. Most of them are recovering within 5-7 days.
They have also suggested that people must follow Covid protocols to break chains otherwise the daily infected cases may well pass 35,000-40,000 if the situation continues.
According to sources in both government and private hospitals, the rate of hospitalization is comparatively much lesser even if there has been a huge surge in daily cases unlike the previous wave when the fatality rate jumped in proportion to the infection rate.
This time most of the patients are undergoing treatment at home isolation and they are not requiring hospitalization except a few patients who are requiring critical care support due various comorbid factors.
According to state government data, the fatality rate in Bengal remains around 1 percent for the past few days.