The number of Covid patients getting admitted to private hospitals in Calcutta is increasing again but the demand for vaccines at these facilities has reduced significantly, leaving public health experts worried about a fresh wave of infections.

Several hospitals said admissions in critical care units had gone up, too, and some are planning to increase the number of beds in August.

The state government at a meeting with district administrations on Tuesday stressed the need to ramp up Covid tests and vaccinations, and introduce stricter rules to ensure mask mandate compliance, officials said.

Most hospitals have been seeing an uptick in admission of Covid patients over the past three or four days.

The Telegraph has been reporting how people have been dropping their guard since the government started relaxing Covid instructions. Despite a 9pm-to-5am curfew, cars were seen parked outside dhabas on Ballygunge Circular Road and waiters were serving food on weekend nights.

In public areas, many people are being spotted without masks.

At Belle Vue Clinic, all beds in the Covid ward were vacant over the last weekend. On Tuesday, there were 17 patients, 10 of whom were in the critical care unit.

“We have observed a sudden spurt in the number of admissions. Most of the patients are in a critical condition. If this trend continues, we have to increase the number of beds again,” said Pradip Tondon, the CEO of Belle Vue.

The Loudon Street hospital had around 200 Covid beds during the peak of the second wave, in May. It reduced the bed count to 33 after the number of cases started falling in the beginning of July.

Tondon said the footfall for vaccination at the hospital had reduced significantly over the last few days. The hospital vaccinated around 700 people daily last week. The figure has since come down to 200 to 300 and most of the people turning up are second dose recipients.

“We are continuing our offsite vaccination programme, where around 3,000 people are being vaccinated daily. We are conducting the drive at places like Haldia, Asansol, Kalyani and Baruipur, and also in Calcutta,” said Tondon.

At Peerless Hospital, the average occupancy in the Covid ward was six for a few weeks. The patient count over the last couple of days has gone up to 17.

“All seven ICU beds are occupied. Last week, there were only two to three patients in the ICU. We are thinking of augmenting the number of beds in August, if the upward trend continues,” said Sudipta Mitra, the chief executive of Peerless Hospital.

The hospital had 175 Covid beds during the peak of the pandemic this year. Now, it has 40.

Mitra said the rate of positivity of Covid test results had also gone up sharply over the last couple of days, from around 2 per cent daily to 5 per cent.

The vaccination footfall, on the other hand, has dropped sharply from a daily average of more than 500 to around 300. “We have vaccine doses but there are not enough takers,” Mitra said.

At the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, too, the rate of positivity has gone up but the demand for vaccination has gone down.

“The positivity rate has gone up from an average of 2 per cent daily to 4 per cent. But the number of people coming to get vaccinated every day has gone down from around 1,000 to 600,” said R. Venkatesh, regional director, east, Narayana Health, which runs the Mukundapur hospital.

At Charnock Hospital in New Town, the number of Covid patients admitted has gone up from 16 a few days back to 20 now.

“Like other hospitals, we, too, reduced the number of Covid beds as cases started falling. But now it has started increasing again and we are keeping watch,” said Ipsita Kundu, the CEO of Charnock Hospital.

She said the demand for vaccination has gone down at her hospital, too. “Earlier, we could not administer the jab to more than 100 people daily because of shortage of doses. Now, not even 100 people are coming to get vaccinated,” Kundu said.

Doctors said the sudden spurt could be because of relaxation of curbs and violation of Covid norms.

“The patients being admitted are not from a particular area. They are from across Calcutta and its surrounding areas. Most of them are unvaccinated,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, an expert in infectious diseases and tropical medicine, attached to Peerless Hospital. Bhattacharya, part of the Covid treatment team at the hospital, said it could be a warning signal of a fresh wave but it was too early to say anything definitely.

A senior health department official said they were keeping a close watch on the situation.

On Tuesday, at a meeting with district administrations, state government officials stressed the need to make people wear masks and scale up testing and vaccination.

“We have identified districts and areas where many people are not wearing masks. The district administrations of those places have been asked to enforce norms strictly,” said Ajay Chakraborty, Bengal’s director of health services.

He said the state government is giving priority to vaccinating people in slum areas of urban and semi-urban areas.