Warning as hospitals in Calcutta see rise in admission of Covid patients

 Health officials warned people not to drop their guard, though there was no indication yet of a fresh wave of infections

A health worker collects samples for Covid test: Telegraph Picture

Sanjay Mandal   |  TT  |  Calcutta   |  06.08.21: Several private hospitals in Calcutta are witnessing a slow rise in the admission of Covid patients.

Health officials, too, said they were noticing an uptick in Covid admissions and warned people not to drop their guard, though there was no indication yet of a fresh wave of infections.

Officials of several hospitals said the number of Covid admissions had dropped in the middle of July but had been rising steadily since. Others said admissions were not going up but the number of patients in the Covid wards was not declining either.

“We are observing a rise in the admission of Covid patients in some private hospitals. However, we have to see the trend for a few more days to say definitively that the numbers are steadily rising again,” an official of the state health department said on Thursday.

At Peerless Hospital, during the peak of the epidemic’s second wave in May, all 175 beds were occupied. From there the patient count had dropped below 10.

In the last week of July, there were 17 patients. On Thursday, the count stood at 27.

“We are getting Covid patients from everywhere, from Alipore in Calcutta to Jhargram and Midnapore,” said Sudipta Mitra, the chief executive of Peerless Hospital.

Narayan Memorial Hospital in Behala would have around 100 patients in its Covid wards in May. A couple of days back, there were no patients..On Thursday, there were three Covid patients.

Woodlands Hospital, too, has been witnessing a rise in admissions. “We have been seeing a spurt since last week. It’s been going up and down over the last few weeks. We feel it’s a prolonged second wave,” said Rupali Basu, the managing director of Woodlands.

At the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, all 261 Covid beds were occupied during the peak of the second wave.

“Covid admission started dropping gradually in June. But it’s not going down any more over the last couple of weeks. The count is hovering between 15 and 18,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east, of Narayana Health, of which the RN Tagore hospital is a flagship unit.

Doctors said the virus was still active and spreading but facing resistance because of the immunity a section of the population developed following infection and vaccination.

“It is too early to say whether this is an indication of a fresh wave. It seems immunisation and herd immunity are putting up a stiff fight against the coronavirus. More vaccination is the only way ahead, along with personalprotections,” said physician Amitabha Saha.