New Covid cases at nearly 12,000; 40% from Kolkata, North 24 Parganas – Times of India

The daily spike in Covid cases continued to break the record on Thursday, when the state recorded another all-time high of 11,948 new cases with 56 deaths during the past 24 hours.

KOLKATA: The daily spike in Covid cases continued to break the record on Thursday, when the state recorded another all-time high of 11,948 new cases with 56 deaths during the past 24 hours.
Around 40% of the cases were reported from Kolkata — 2,646 cases — and North 24 Parganas, with 2,372 cases. With an extremely infectious mutant on the prowl, health experts apprehend the onslaught will continue its relentless march for a while.
“Going by this sharp upsurge, the number of daily new cases will breach the 20,000-mark in a week. This is a tsunami and the destruction is unlikely to come to a halt any time soon,” said a virologist attached with a state institute.
While the first wave had spared a majority of the younger population, the second wave is causing ripples among the group, including children. “The number of patients requiring oxygen support is higher this time and a higher number of younger patients are getting infected unlike last time,” said infectious diseases specialist Yogiraj Ray, who is involved in the treatment of Covid patients at Infectious Diseases and Beliaghata General Hospital, the state’s nodal hospital for Covid care.
On April 1, there were 6,519 active cases across Bengal and 2,519 in Kolkata. In three weeks, the numbers have shot up to 68,798 and 17,778 respectively. The steep spike has left the healthcare system gasping with all major hospitals struggling with an overload of patients.
“During the first wave, a section of the patients who did not require hospitalization had come to the hospital due to social pressure. But this time, most patients coming in are quite unwell. Around 80%-90% are in need of oxygen support compared to the 60%-70% during the first wave,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, tropical medicine specialist at Peerless Hospital.
“The ratio of older patients vis-a vis younger ones, which was 80:20 during the first wave, has changed to 60:40 now,” Bhattacharya said.
Over the past two days, the number of daily tests in the state has gone up to a little above 50,000 from 40,000-46,000. Health experts said even this number is too low.
“Scaling up tests to identify and isolating the infected as fast as possible is a step towards containing the spread of the virus. But we are not testing enough. The state must push all RT-PCR laboratories to full capacity and include other methods of tests without fear of detecting more positive cases,” said a doctor attached with a state hospital.
The hospital occupancy rate was only about 10% in the beginning of April. On Thursday, it had risen to nearly 50% overall. But most hospitals in Kolkata had occupancy ranging from 80%-100%.
On Thursday, the state health department got senior doctors — tropical medicine specialist Bibhuti Saha, medicine specialist Jyotirmoy Pal and Soumitra Ghosh and critical-care specialist Sugata Das Gupta — to train medical officers and nurses from different Covid hospitals. The online session had the specialists teaching them how to care for patients in the wards and in HUD and ICUs.