Journalism of Courage
The incidence of Covid-19 is on the rise in Delhi, with 622 fresh cases recorded on Thursday, as per the daily health bulletin of the Delhi government. The number had crossed the 500-mark for the first time in 18 days on Wednesday. The positivity rate — proportion of samples tested that return positive — stood at 3.17% on Thursday, which is the highest in 27 days, barring Monday’s bulletin (which records cases and tests from Sunday) when it shot up to 3.4% because very few tests had been conducted.
City doctors say they have seen an increase in Covid-19 cases reporting for out-patient consultations, however, hospital admissions remain stagnant.
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“There has been an increase in the number of cases, but the good thing is that there are hardly any complications. There are hardly any Covid-19 admissions in the hospital, and those who are admitted, I presume, are for other conditions but happen to test positive for Covid-19,” said Dr Rommel Tickoo, director of internal medicine at Max hospital.
He added, “These ups and downs will keep happening. This is what the endemic level of the disease looks like. Small spikes in cases will happen locally across the country before settling down in six months to a year.”
Doctors say that along with fever, cough, and sore throat, most of the Covid-19 patients are reporting gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, and loss of appetite.
Dr Surajit Chatterjee, senior consultant of internal medicine at Indraprastha Apollo hospital, said, “I am seeing some Covid-19 patients coming to the OPD, their disease profile is similar to what we saw in April. There are likely to be such ups and downs in cases throughout the year, but there is no need to panic. These increases also serve as a reminder to continue to follow Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.” Along with masking, he emphasised on the old and co-morbid to get their precaution dose if they are eligible.
He added, “The hospital admissions due to the infection continue to remain low. There are probably just two Covid-19 patients in the entire hospital.”
The only Covid patients who are developing severe disease are those who have either not been vaccinated or those who have severe comorbidities or conditions that weaken their immune system.
Dr Sumit Ray, head of the critical care department at Holy Family hospital, said, “We have only 2-3 patients with Covid admitted to ICU, at the moment. Now, we see patients who have either not received their double vaccination or those who are co-morbid or immune-compromised. For example, one of those currently admitted was on high-dose steroid treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and the other had undergone a kidney transplant.”
The number of hospitalisation, as per the Delhi government’s daily health bulletin, had dropped to 61 or 62 patients at the end of May. There are 85 patients in hospitals as of Wednesday, reported in Thursday’s health bulletin.
