KOCHI: Providing a much-needed breather for the district administration and the healthcare sector, the daily count of Covid cases in Ernakulam has declined steadily over the past few weeks. While 3,021 new cases were reported in the district last week, the number stood at 3,884 the week before.According to doctors, the number of Covid admissions in hospitals has also come down, compared to the numbers in January. One of the highest numbers of fresh cases in the district — 1,083 — was reported on January 23. As many as 11,129 Covid patients were under treatment then with the weekly tally as high as 5,900. In contrast, as on Saturday, only 8,969 patients are under treatment for the disease in the district.
“Currently, no unusual surge has been observed in the spread of the pandemic. Covid admissions at private hospitals too have maintained a steady trend. Most hospitals have vacant ICU beds in case of a sudden rise. Since new strains of the virus have been detected in the state, the coming days will be crucial. The decrease in the number of cases reported in the district has certainly come as a huge relief,” said Dr Monu Varghese.
As of Saturday, 406 Covid patients are being treated at private hospitals in the district.“Last month, ICU beds were almost at full occupancy. Our hospital has around 30 ICU beds, and they were all occupied. This number has now come down to 17,” said a senior pulmonogist in Kochi.
Meanwhile, the vaccination drive in the district is progressing at full steam. The second phase of vaccination for healthcare workers began on Monday with nearly 60,000 persons in line to get the jab. “The response from the healthcare workers has been positive. Over 5,000 persons have been vaccinated till now in the second phase, and the drive is progressing steadily,” said Dr S Sreedevi, District Surveillance Officer.