As daily cases decline, vacant beds count increase at hospitals in Delhi

Amid a steady fall in daily cases of COVID-19 in the national capital, the number of vacant beds has again started to go up at hospitals, offering some relief to coronavirus patients and their families.

According to Delhi corona app, till about 11 am on Wednesday, 13,791 beds were available, out of the total 27,726 beds across the facilities, government or private-run.

About a few weeks ago, in the middle of the worst phase of the second wave of the pandemic, there was a massive shortage of beds with oxygen supply, and ICU beds and ICU beds with ventilators, with cases spiralling up to as high as over 28,000 on April 20, with a huge number of fatalities recorded every day.

On Wednesday, as per the corona app, 11,429 beds with oxygen supply were vacant and 1,246 ICU beds were available till about 11 am for COVID patients.

At the Delhi government-run hospitals, the tally of vacant ICU beds were — GTB Hospital (411 beds out of 900), LNJP Hospital (266 out of 750), Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (133 out of 325), among other facilities.

At Centre-run facilities, ths figures for vacant ICU beds were — Safdarjung Hospital (10 out of 80) and AIIMS (6 out of 72), as per the app.

COVID beds with oxygen support were also available at many facilities across the city — LNJP hospital (1,198 beds out of 1,750), GTB Hospital (758 out of 1,250), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel COVID hospital run by DRDO (269 out of 500), Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital (283 out of 475), as per the app.

The COVID-19 situation has improved in the last few days, with daily cases on the decline, however, fatalities are still being recorded in large numbers, and doctors say the severity of cases is still the same as it was a few weeks ago.

Delhi has been reeling under a brutal second wave of the pandemic that is sweeping the country, claiming a massive number of lives daily, with the recent oxygen supply shortage issue at hospitals, adding to the woes.

The wave which began late March, spiralled up with over 28,000 cases being recorded on April 20.

The national capital had reported a record 448 COVID-19 deaths in a day and 18,043 cases on May 3.

Medical experts say that while lockdown majorly has brought down the count of daily cases, the severity of cases is still the same, so “we should not lower our guards”.

On Sunday, 6,456 cases and 262 deaths were reported, while the tally was 6,430 with 337 deaths on Saturday, and 4,524 cases and 340 deaths on Monday.

On Tuesday, the cases further dipped to 4,482, while the positivity rate slipped to 6.89 per cent, according to official data.

On April 14, COVID-19 ICU beds with ventilators had become fully occupied at majority of 94 hospitals with such facilities, as per official data shared on an official app on that day.

According to the Delhi corona app till about 2 pm on April 14, at 75 of the 110 hospitals, COVID-19 beds without ventilators were being fully used by patients.