Coronavirus Outbreak: Hospital admission rate increase significantly; over 14% rise noted

Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases have increased across several cities in India, especially in Mumbai and Delhi, which have seen a significant rise. As per reports, Mumbai reported a spike of over 70 per cent in cases reported within 24 hours. As of Tuesday, December 28, 2021, Mumbai reported 1,377 new COVID cases with a positivity rate of 4.25 per cent.  As of now, the city has a total of over 5800 active COVID cases.

Meanwhile Delhi witnessed a 50 per cent increase with 496 cases.

On Monday, December 27, 2021, the health department reported 809 new cases and three deaths, whereas more than 920 cases were reported on Sunday, December 26, 2021.

Experts believe that the rise in cases could be due to the newly identified variant, Omicron, because of which COVID-19 cases have seen a sharp rise across India. So far, more than 165 Omicron cases have been reported in Maharashtra, however, no new Omicron cases were reported on Tuesday, December 28, 2021.

Hospital admissions in Mumbai have also increased with the growing number of cases, and reports state that over 14% rise has been noted in COVID patient admission rate across hospitals, both private and government-run. This spike has been seen in one week, from December 21 to 28, 2021. BMC data reveals that over 550 patients in Mumbai sought admissions across centres in Mumbai in the week between December 14-21, 2021. On the other hand, officials have noted a spike of 49% in ICU admissions, as some patients were reported with symptom severity. Moreover, doctors have stated that though the numbers have increased in the last week, patients have experienced mild to very mild symptoms only, and the number of critical cases has not increased.

Meanwhile, the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature which was held in Mumbai ended recently, whereby over 50 people were infected with COVID-19. This included ministers, police officers, journalists, staff members, etc. Among the known are State’s School Education Minister, Varsha Gaikwad, BJP legislator Sameer Meghe and others. Minister Varsha Gaikwad took to Twitter to share the news about being COVID positive, and said, “I learned today (Tuesday) that I tested positive for Covid-19 after getting symptoms yesterday (Monday) evening. My symptoms are relatively mild. I am fine and have isolated myself. Request those who met me over the past few days to take precautions.