Kerala witesses sharp spike in Covid cases, hospitalisations and bed occupancy

Mangalore Today News Network

Thiruvanantapuram, Jan 19, 2022: On January 1, number of new Covid-19 cases in Kerala was 2,435. Only 169 people were admitted to various hospitals due to the virus. Nineteen days later, the state’s daily Covid tally has gone up to 34,199 with 1094 people being admitted to hospital for treatment.

 

The total number of people under hospital isolation in Kerala is currently 6203. This was only 3.2 per cent of the total Covid patients in the state which was 1,68,383 on Wednesday.

Just a week ago, on January 11, the total number of cases in Kerala was 44,441 and 5.7 per cent of the people were in the hospital. On that day, only 294 new cases were admitted into the hospital.

Looking back to January 11, the number of cases were 44,441 and 5.7 per cent of the people were in hospital back then. On the day only 294 new cases were admitted to the hospital.

Only a week later, the state has registered a sharp spike in both fresh cases and hospitalisations.
While there has been a 211 per cent rise in Covid patients, there has been a 60 per cent increase in patients being admitted to hospitals.There has been a 113 per cent rise in new admissions at hospitals, while in 38 per cent more ICU beds are being occupied by Covid patients. The spike is use of ventilator equipped beds has been nine per cent since January 11.

Occupancy of beds with oxygen by Covid patients has increased by 52 per cent.

The number of health workers testing positive has also seen a massive increase. On Wednesday alone, 283 health workers tested positive for Covid. In the coming days, the daily Covid tally in the state is expected to hit 50,000.

While addressing the media on Wednesday, Kerala Health Minister Veena George urged the people to strictly follow Covid protocol and abide by all instructions given by the government. She also confirmed that the Omicron variant is spreading faster while further warning the people to not trivialise the impact of Omicron variant on people.

"There are many fake news reports being spread regarding the Omicron variant. It is not a natural vaccination. Such news being spread will be strictly dealt with," said the minister.

The experts have now urged the state government to do more antigen tests to increase the number of daily tests. On Wednesday, only an underwhelming 91,983 tests were done.