As Covid Graph Declines, Vacant Hospital Beds Increase In Delhi

The declining number of daily COVID-19 cases in Delhi has resulted in increase in the number of vacant beds and intensive care units in the city's hospitals, giving much needed respite to its citizens. On Tuesday, of the total available beds, 12,907 were vacant while 14,805 were occupied.

The COVID-19 situation in Delhi has been showing signs of improvements over the past few days with the number of cases and positivity rate going down steadily.

The national capital on Tuesday reported 4,482 Covid-19 cases - the lowest single-day rise since April 5 - and 265 fatalities, while the positivity rate dipped to 6.89 per cent, according to the latest health bulletin released by the city government.

Both ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) and DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) facilities created at the peak of second wave presently have almost fifty percent vacancy.

"Distress calls have come down though calls for ICU beds are still there," a senior officer in-charge of control room told NDTV, adding beds are now available both in government and private hospitals.

He said the recovery rate of Delhi has also been steadily increasing. The vacancy rate at the covid care facilities is also increasing every day.

On Tuesday, the national capital's recovery rate was 94.37 percent. As many as 9,403 patients recovered in last one day. The active case load of city is now 50,863.

"Both in ITBP and DRDO, due to successive recoveries, the confidence level of patients has increased due to which many have been discharged," he added.

Only 229 beds were occupied and 271 were vacant in the ITBP facility on Tuesday.

"Earlier we used to attend as many as 2,000 SOS calls every day but now on an average, we get 500-600 calls and that too mostly for ICU beds," said a senior ITBP official in-charge of COVID care facility adding that now they are admitting walk-in patients too.

Similarly, in DRDO facility, vacant beds are increasing. "Earlier we thought of increasing the number of beds but now as Delhi is stabilising, we won't be needing (more beds)," stated an official from the Defence Ministry. On Tuesday, this facility had 269 vacant beds out of 500 ICU beds.

The situation is similar in Yamuna Sports Complex Covid Care Centre where only 62 beds were occupied out of 800 operational Covid beds. Officials in-charge of the facility say that situation a week before was not like this. "Earlier there were a lot of queries but now they have subsided. Now, on an average we get 5-10 patients daily," he said.

Covid Care Centre at the Common Wealth Games Village, where in more than 460 bed facility was created when Delhi's graph was touching 25,000 daily cases is now almost vacant. "We only have 61 patients now. The expansion is also put on hold," explains an official in-charge of control room.

Most of these Covid Care Facilities were created by Delhi government when positivity rate had touched almost 40 percent. However, the graph due to the ongoing lockdown is now slowly declining.

The number of deaths is still a big concern for the city. As many as 265 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours and till date 22,111 people have died due to the disease since 2020.