As Covid-19 cases rise in Bengaluru, demand up for hospital beds

With the number of Covid-19 cases having increased by 16% in the city in the last 14 days, there has been a slight increase in the demand for hospital beds.

As per data from the BBMP, 107 people in the city were admitted to hospitals in the last seven days, out of which 28.03% (or 30 patients) required ICU or ICU-ventilator beds, while another 38% (41 people) required HDU beds.

On average, about 20 people are being hospitalised daily. BBMP Special Commissioner (Health) D Randeep specified that the rate of hospitalisation is less than 10% of new cases.

“Our seven-day moving growth analysis shows that on average, the number of daily admissions is between 20 and 30. This is significantly better than the 1,000 admissions that were happening at the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak in April and May,” said BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta.

“To draw an inference from the marginal increase that we have noticed is premature.”

Also read: BBMP orders institutional quarantine for travellers from Kerala, Maharashtra without negative Covid test report

A source in the BBMP explained that the hospitalisation rate had increased because more mildly symptomatic people are being hospitalised to ensure that they do not suffer any complications.

“The trend is to get people to be hospitalised even if they have mild symptoms because for one, beds are available in numbers, and two, clinical outcomes can be better managed,” the source said.

This is manifest in the step-down, step-up status of the 107 hospitalised cases. Seven of these cases, for example, who were in general beds had to be transferred to critical care beds, such as HDU and ICU beds, because their conditions had worsened. A further 13 people in HDU moves were “stepped-up” to ICU and ICU-ventilator beds.

On the flip side, eight people in ICU were “stepped-down” to HDU beds after they showed signs of improvement, as did five people who were previously on ICU-ventilator beds.