BHOPAL: After witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases for over a month, Indore - one of the COVID-19 hotspots of the country – could be on the path of recovery.
Indore had become the COVID-19 capital of Madhya Pradesh. But since the last two days, the city is witnessing a positive trend of patients having recovered from the deadly infection outnumbering new cases reported.
On Saturday, as many as 121 coronavirus patients were discharged from various hospitals in the city, after two of their last test reports were found negative for the infection.
The number of patients discharged from MRTB Hospital, SAIMS Hospital and Index Hospital was five times more than the new positive cases reported on Saturday, which stood at 23.
The positive development began on Friday when 42 patients were discharged from various hospitals, which were 10 more than the 32 new positive cases reported the same day.
“Since the last two days, the number of patients discharged from various hospitals has been greater than the new positive cases. We hope that this trend will continue in the coming days also,” Indore district chief medical and health officer Dr Pravin Jadia told The New Indian Express.
But the encouraging trend isn’t confined to the total number of discharged patients outnumbering the new positive cases. Even the percentage of samples tested positive out of the total samples tested too is declining.
As per figures with the health department in Indore, on April 27, out of the 820 total samples tested, 165 samples (20.12%) had tested positive for COVID-19. On April 28, the figure slid to 14.6%, which further declined to 9.82% on April 30, before further dropping to 6.31% on May 1.
On Saturday, out of the 515 samples that were tested, just 23 (4.46%) tested positive, which was an all-time low. Till date, out of the 8948 samples tested - 1568 (17.52%) have tested positive.
“The number of patients discharged from hospitals in Indore on Saturday being five times more than the new positive cases means that we are moving in the right direction. In the coming days, the situation is going to improve further,” said Dr Ravi Dosi, the senior pulmonologist at SAIMS Hospital, where the bulk of the COVID-19 patients are admitted.
Also, the four critical patients at SAIMS Hospital to whom Plasma Therapy is being administered are showing signs of improvement. “They are no longer on oxygen support and their Chest X-rays have shown remarkable improvement. All the four patients are now talking to us with ease, which is very encouraging,” Dr Dosi informed.