Hospitalisation, fatality rate lesser in this phase

Kolkata: The number of daily Covid infected cases in Bengal has touched 18,000 mark on Friday but the hospital admission and fatality rate in the state have been much less this time compared to the figures during the last wave, suggested the Health department data.

According to sources in both government and private hospitals, the rate of hospitalisation is comparatively 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. A very few those getting admitted to various health establishments are requiring oxygen support. During the previous wave, patients in large numbers required oxygen support and as a result there was a huge shortage of the same in several hospitals.

This time, most of the patients are undergoing treatment in home isolation and they are not requiring hospitalisation except a few patients who are requiring critical care support due various comorbidity factors. According to state government data, the fatality rate in Bengal remains around 1 percent for the past few days. On Friday, the state registered a fatality rate of 1.16 percent. Over 18,000 daily cases have been reported across the state on Friday but the number of fatalities remained at 18 on Friday. On Thursday, the daily infection stood at 15,421 and the number of fatalities reported was 19.

The state had seen such a high daily infection during May last year when the fatality rate remained few times more than the present figure. For example, on May 18, 2021, the state had seen around 19,000 daily infections but the number of daily fatalities that day remained at 145.

On May 2 last year, the daily infection stood at 17,512 while the number of deaths remained at 92. May 24, daily infection was registered at 17,883 while fatalities remained at around 153. Around 10,137 infections were found on May 31 and the number of deaths was 131.

But the number of daily fatalities in Bengal remained below 20 so far even when daily infection touched the 18,000 mark.

The state has been witnessing daily fatalities between 4 and 15 for the last few months. Even when the daily Covid infection started rising by a huge margin in the past one week, the daily fatality remained under control in Bengal unlike the previous waves when the fatality rate also jumped. The total death toll has so far gone up to 19,864.

All the district health administrations following the instructions from Swasthya Bhawan have already set up adequate infrastructure to handle the Covid situation.

Nearly 200 hospitals have already been identified for Covid treatment with 32,268 beds being readied to meet any unforeseen situation.

According to the state government figure, around 19,517 beds are now functional. As many as 4,180 CCU and HDU beds have been arranged.