CHENNAI: As the daily Covid cases in Chennai came down below 300, more than 90 per cent beds in the government hospitals are now vacant.Doctors at Stanley GH, RGGGH, KMCH and Omandurar GHs say that the daily case flow is lesser. “Around 115 beds are now occupied at Stanley out of the 1,200 beds,” said Dean Dr P Balaji. He pointed out that the hospital has also arranged 100 beds exclusive for Covid patients.
RGGGH Dean Dr E Theranirajan said that only 246 beds were occupied out of the 1,661 beds available. “Only 10 to 15 positive cases come every day,” he said, adding that RGGGH recorded zero deaths on Monday.
Meanwhile, the test positivity rate has come down from 3.6 per cent to 2.6 per cent in Chennai. This means, per hundred tests done every day, an average of 2.6 per cent people test positive.In the first week of December, the positivity rate was at 3.6 per cent and despite new clusters at IIT-M, the civic body continued to test close to 11,000 people.
“On some days in December, we even tested more than 11,000 people. This is the reason why the positivity rate has gone down further,” said an official with Chennai Corporation’s health department.
Officials said that the surveillance is being intensified and cases would further come down. “Half of city’s population have attended the fever camps and we will continue them for the next few months,” the official added.