With the number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka going up, the State’s bed occupancy, which was at less than 2% till May 8, had shot up to 13.1% as on Friday.
From 565 cases on April 30, the number of positive cases in Karnataka rose to 3,221 by May 31 — an almost six-fold increase. And this number doubled in the first 10 days of June. The number of cases rose from 589 on May 1 to 1,056 on May 15, before shooting up to 3,221 by May 31 and 6,516 as on June 12.
This was mainly because of the influx of returnees from other States. The number of cases started mounting once the State eased lockdown restrictions on May 18. At least 12 districts, including Bengaluru Urban, have reported more than 200 cases during this period. Moreover, cases in nearly 14 districts have had a doubling rate faster than the State average of 10 days.
Given the surge in cases, bed occupancy in the State has increased significantly in the past four weeks. It was just 2% of the nearly 14,000 beds reserved for COVID-19 patients on May 8, with only 280 patients requiring hospitalisation then. Now, with 2,995 active cases, the bed occupancy has shot up to 13.1% of 21,728 COVID-19 beds.
According to data from the State COVID-19 war room, Karnataka has 84,776 beds in its districts, of which 21,728 have been reserved for COVID-19.
A total of 19,639 beds are available in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts. And of these, 3,470 are reserved for COVID-19 in the two districts. More than 86% of the 21,728 beds are isolation beds — 6,695 with oxygen facilities, 2,105 ICU beds, and 1,000 with ventilators.
The highest bed occupancy — 46.3% — is in Yadgir, while Chamarajanagar and Ramanagaram account for the lowest, with 0.5% and 2%, respectively.
Availability spread
Of the 21,728 beds, 10,259 are in public facilities while 4,795 are in dedicated COVID-19 treatment centres. Only 3,820 beds are in private hospitals. There is no break-up provided for the remaining 2,854 beds.
Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar said that with experts warning that the State would witness its peak in terms of COVID-19 cases in July, Karnataka has been ramping up facilities. “We already have nearly 90,000 beds in all hospitals put together. Although there was an estimation that Karnataka would record nearly 80,000 [cases] by April-end, nothing like that happened. We are gearing up to handle a rush of patients if the projection made by experts comes true,” he said.
However, sources said that now, with district hospitals being opened up for non-COVID-19 treatment, the number of COVID-19 beds in district hospitals would reduce. “There should be active participation of private hospitals, especially in rural areas, to ensure that we do not face a situation similar to Delhi and Mumbai,” a source said.
