99% ICU beds, 94% ventilators already occupied in Mumbai: BMC

About 99 per cent of intensive care units (ICUs) and 94 per cent of ventilators in Mumbai are currently occupied by patients battling the novel coronavirus infection in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Saturday (June 13).

Taking to Twitter, Ashwini Bhide, BMC Additional Municipal Commissioner, said, “Medical infrastructure is also getting augmented. It has already (been) augmented in (the) last two months and further planning and implementation is also in progress.”

Today's active #COVID19 positive cases within @mybmc are 28163 and total discharged cases are 25152. And here is Mumbai COVID19 status of yesterday 11th June. Doubling rate is now 25 days and average daily growth rate has gone down to 2.76%. pic.twitter.com/wLYJUJtVql

— Ashwini Bhide (@AshwiniBhide) June 12, 2020

Two days after surpassing the number of cases reported by the epicentre of outbreak Wuhan, the BMC on Thursday (June 11) revealed that Mumbai has 1,181 beds in ICUs across the city of which about 1,167 are already occupied.

This indicates that only 14 beds are available for the new patients in the city.

It also said that of the 520 ventilators, 497 machines that artificially support the breathing process, are in use, adding that about 76 per cent or 3,986 of the available 5,260 oxygen beds are also occupied.

Related news: COVID-19: Maharashtra slashes testing charges by 50%, lowest in India

Further deciphering the handling of coronavirus situation in the state, the BMC said about 87 per cent or 9,098 beds of the total 10,450 beds in Dedicated COVID Hospitals (DCH) and Dedicated COVID Health Centres (DCHC) to treat patients classified as either “moderately ill” or “severely ill,” are occupied.

Many officials such as Bhide have expressed their concern over the sudden spike in the number of cases and not enough beds to accommodate the patients which shows the strain on already stressed medical infrastructure.

#CoronavirusUpdates
१२ जून, संध्या. ६:०० वाजता#कोरोना_ला_ना #NaToCorona pic.twitter.com/HgYzU6jfE4

— माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) June 12, 2020

Even as the doubling rate in Mumbai is 25 days, the country’ financial capital continues to report more and more cases with each passing day.

As of Friday (June 12), Mumbai has reported over 55,000 COVID-19 cases and 2,044 deaths so far; 1,366 fresh infections and 90 deaths were confirmed over a 24-hour period.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra climbed up by 3,427 to 1,04,568 total cases and the death toll went up by 113 to 3,830.

Related news: Coronavirus cases in Maharashtra cross one lakh-mark, Mumbai worst hit

Even as the BMC officials have time and again assured that enough beds will be made available for the residents, government officials revealed that hospitals in Mumbai have been instructed to adhere to admission and discharge guidelines and only admit severely symptomatic patients.

In a bid to control the spread of the deadly infection, the state has taken cautious steps towards easing the coronavirus lockdown. It has allowed all government offices to function with 15 per cent employees, while private offices can work with 10 per cent of staff.