Covid hospital admissions down 50% in Bengaluru, but BBMP keeps its guard up

The number of hospital admissions due to Covid-19 has dropped by half in the two weeks since June 1 in a sign of the infection waning, data compiled by the BBMP Covid war room show.

The BBMP health authorities, however, are not letting their guard down as Bengaluru prepares to unlock more from June 21, the day the current spate of curbs is supposed to end.

The health authorities expect large numbers of people to return to Bengaluru from their villages when public transport opens. Many people are already coming back to join work as industries and garment units are back in operation, though with limited strength.


The BBMP has already set up Covid testing kiosks at all entry points and railway stations as people are already returning in private vehicles, also from villages where the infection is high.

“We are cautious and want to prevent a possible spike in cases. For the next 15 days, we will do Covid tests on everyone coming into the city,” the official said.

DOWNWARD TREND
Hospital admissions in the city dropped to 318 on May 31 and have been sliding ever since. They peaked just once on June 2, when the city recorded 354 admissions. They have otherwise been on a downward trend, and have fallen below 200 since June 9. The number has been hovering around 150 these days, the data compiled by the central hospital bed management system shows.

As on June 15, the latest date for which data was available, there were 16,459 beds available in government and private hospitals as well as Covid Care Centres in Bengaluru. Of them, 14,050 beds were vacant. About half of the ICU beds were also available. The recovery rate touched 92% on Tuesday, accelerating a speedy fall in the active cases. The test positivity rate is also down to about 2.7%. “Today, all the positive cases that were reported in my jurisdiction were asymptomatic. They needed only home isolation,” a BBMP health official said.

“We had high cases between April second week and May third week, most requiring ICUs and ventilators. By the end of May, cases began to ebb. Though infection spread did not stop, its severity has been low, easing the pressure on hospital beds,” the official explained.