Despite a steady uptick in daily Covid-19 cases in the past few days, the rate of hospitalisation in Bengaluru and the state is under control at the moment, officials said.
Out of 8,712 active cases in the state, nearly 87 per cent or 7,660 are under home isolation. Bengaluru alone has 7,286 active cases, of which about 200 cases are in government and private hospitals and the rest are being treated under home isolation.
During the same time last year, Bengaluru had as many as 654 Covid-positive persons admitted in various hospitals and Covid Care Centres, and another 6,581 patients in home isolation.
Officials are also relieved as out of the 66 Omicron cases so far, only 16 were symptomatic and the rest asymptomatic.
Although Covid cases are going up, hospitals in the city still have as many as 1,804 beds in the government quota, a comforting statistic at a time when Covid-19 cases are once again surging amid fears of hospitals getting overwhelmed by the highly transmissible Omicron.
State Health Commissioner D Randeep said the "current data is a relief".
"Among the in-patients, only 94 patients require oxygen while about 403 are without oxygen support. As many as 54 patients are in ICUs while 12 are on ventilators," he said.
The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has suggested for further decongestion of hospitals by asking the state government to house Covid patients in Covid Care Centres or place them under home isolation.
TAC Chairman Dr MK Sudarshan said the rate of hospitalisation was higher during the Delta wave as "people rushed to hospitals despite being asymptomatic".
"To prevent patients from unnecessarily occupying hospital beds, we have recommended opening good Covid Care Centres. In the first wave, by the time the lockdown was lifted, we had readied Haj Bhavan, Ravi Shankar Ashram, and Agriculture College."
He suggested that Covid patients who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic should be housed in hotels instead of hospitals. Suguna Hospital is one of the designated private hospitals where Covid-positive international travellers can opt to stay.
"Similarly, government CCCs should be kept ready for those who don't have facilities for home isolation," he added
However, he acknowledged the highly contagious nature of Omicron. "Only those who have a caregiver as assessed by the triaging team should be permitted home isolation. All patients should be strictly monitored," he said.
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