Mumbai: Amid rise in coronavirus cases in Mumbai, the availability of COVID-19 beds has now reduced to 31 per cent from 50 per cent in the last 20 days. Health officials have attributed this drop to sudden rise in COVID-19 cases post Ganpati festivities and rise in monsoon-related ailments have together burdened the existing system.
According to the BMC Dashboard, on September 1, the city had 8,016 isolation beds across Covid Care Centres, jumbo facilities, and dedicated Covid-19 hospitals, which dropped to 4,777 till 1.19 pm on September 20, a decrease of 31 per cent.
“The drop in number of beds and a sudden rise in COVID-19 cases post Ganpati festivities have together burdened the existing system. While there are still beds for mildly to moderately ill patients, fewer beds are available for seriously ill ones,” said an official.
Currently, 71% of active patients in the city are asymptomatic, 24% are symptomatic and 4% are critical.
“More patients are asymptomatic, and as more cases are coming from high-rises, these patients opt for quarantining themselves at home. BMC has allowed that as long as they have a separate room and an independent toilet in the house,” said Suresh Kakani, additional municipal commissioner in-charge of BMC’s public health department.
