From January 10 to14, the average daily calls on the 104 fever helpline were 227. It rose to an average of 518 on January 15 and 16, recording a spike of 28%. Likewise, the shift from homes to hospitals for Covid patients from January 10 to 14 was average 59 that increased to average 79 on January15 and 16, a rise of 34%.
“In fact, from January 15 to 17, about 50% of 2,500-odd calls on108 services were related to Covid-19 - one of the highest after the end of the second wave,” said a senior EMRI 108 official. Call it the result of a three-day kite-flying revelry or the contentious rise in Covid cases in both city and state, the post-Uttarayan period has recorded a major spike in daily tally. For Gujarat, it was a rise of 26%, from10,150 on Sunday to 12,753 on Monday. For Ahmedabad, the rise was 33%, from 3,264 to 4,340. It was the highest daily tally for the city in the past 258 days or since May 4. Long queues at rapid antigen testing (RAT) booths were seen across the city, whereas the private path labs also recorded spike in number of tests.
At Civil Hospital, the past two days brought 37 patients, including seven suspected patients. This is 60% of the total 57 cases at the hospital. Medical superintendent, Dr Rakesh Joshi, said: “Of the total, 16 are either on ventilator or BiPAP. Several of the admitted patients have not taken either one or both doses of vaccine. We urge all to get vaccinated at the earliest. ”
Even in private hospitals, the number of admitted patients crossed 200 and stood at 208 on Monday. The number was146 on January14 - a spike of 42% in three days. According to Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association data, 21 patients were in the ICU and four on ventilator, whereas 76 were in high-dependency units (HDU). AHNA officials said that the hospitalization is still low compared to overall numbers but the number of admitted patients is steadily rising. “The majority of the number of hospitalized patients consists of senior citizens and those with comorbidities. Due to very high spread of the Omicron variant, we all must exercise caution for some time,” said Dr Bharat Gadhvi, president of AHNA.
On Monday, Gujarat recorded 950,000 total vaccination doses including 503,000 first and 441,000 second dose of vaccination. The teens were administered 58,291 doses, taking the number to 22,41,000, whereas 600,000 healthcare and frontline workers have got booster dose.
