Doctors and health officials have observed certain changes in the latest surge of Covid compared with previous waves — hospitalisations are still low, and so are cases of incidental Covid because tests are not mandatory before hospital admission.
The doctors and officials said increased mingling was one reason for the renewed rise in Covid cases and urged people to follow protocols to stay protected.
The number of daily new Covid cases in Bengal crossed the 2,000-mark on Wednesday after several months. The state recorded 2,352 Covid cases during the day. Calcutta accounted for 825 cases.
Following the fresh surge, doctors and officials of several hospitals said they were spotting some patterns
Fewer tests, fewer hospitalisations: “One big change in the new surge is fewer tests at hospitals. Since pre-admission Covid test is not mandatory for all patients, findings of incidental Covid are less this time, compared with the omicron-driven third wave,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, infectious disease expert at Peerless Hospital.
Hospital officials said tests were fewer compared with the earlier three waves.
The RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences is conducting 30 to 40 Covid tests daily, compared with 150 to 200 on average during the third wave.
“During the first three waves, we were conducting Covid tests on all patients coming for admission. There was a government advisory, too, in this regard,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east and south, Narayana Health, which runs the RN Tagore hospital.
“No Covid patient was getting admitted to our hospital a couple of months after the third wave and the positivity rate at our laboratory was zero. The ICMR issued an advisory saying tests before admissions were not mandatory,” he said.
Hospitals said they were now having much fewer beds for Covid patients because the number of hospitalisations was less.
“During the omicron wave we kept three wards with 150 beds. During all three previous waves, after increasing the number of Covid beds to 195, we could not bring it down to below 150. But now we have only one Covid ward with 40 beds,” said Sudipta Mitra, chief executive of Peerless Hospital. Twenty-eight Covid beds were occupied on Wednesday.
More mingling: Doctors pointed out that unlike the first three waves when many institutes were closed, this time people are mingling freely as everything is open.
“More mingling means more chances of spread of the virus. We cannot afford another lockdown, so we have to behave responsibly, wear masks and isolate ourselves if we have symptoms,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya.
Booster dose: The booster dose of Covid vaccines could be one reason why hospitalisation is low till now, said doctors and hospital officials.
“The precautionary dose seems to have made an impact in the initial stage of the surge. We are observing that most patients in the ITU have not taken the third dose or are having comorbidities,” said Aviral Roy, senior critical care consultant at Medica Superspecialty Hospital.
At Belle Vue Clinic, too, most patients were having mild symptoms. “Most patients admitted in the ITU are those who have failed to take the vaccine doses,” said Pradip Tondon, CEO of Belle Vue.
