Chennai: New Covid high no cause for panic

CHENNAI: The city on Thursday reported an all-time high of 8,218 new Covid-19 cases, nearly a quarter of the total samples tested.
But doctors, paramedics and public health administrators aren’t worried because unlike the peak in May 2021, there were no long queues outside hospitals or shortage of oxygen and lifesaving drugs.
Chennai, which topped the state in terms of new cases, also reported the sharpest increase in fresh cases.The city reported 7,372 cases on Wednesday. During the peak of the second wave in 2021, it reported a maximum of 7,466 new cases on May 11 and 7,564 cases on May 12.
This spike pushed up active cases too. On Thursday, there were 46,515 patients under treatment for the viral infection and among them 2,991 patients or around 6% were in hospitals, including 256 in the intensive care unit. “Patients in nearly 85% of cases in clusters have the S-gene dropout, a proxy indicator for Omicron. Most have a mild infection. The disease affects the bronchi but doesn’t invade the lungs,” said health minister Ma Subramanian. The situation was quite different last year. On May 12, 2021, there were fewer active cases (40,613), but 12,624 people were in hospitals, including 1,935 in intensive care units. Most patients in the ICU weren’t vaccinated, requiring expensive drugs and high-flow oxygen or ventilators.
This time, with more people vaccinated, deaths are low. On May 11 and 12 last year, the city reported 92 and 89 deaths. On Thursday, Greater Chennai Corporation recorded eight Covid-19 deaths. But experts warned that the number may be low in terms of percentage, but with quick increase in cases, admission in terms of absolute numbers will go up. “That is enough to overwhelm the healthcare system, tire out doctors and nurses, and result in complications,” said WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan, who is on TN’s panel of experts
For instance, the percentage of active patients in hospitals has come down from 25% to 6% in a week. But in absolute numbers, there are 3,000 patients in the hospitals compared to 2,000 earlier. ICU occupancy has increased from 6% to 13%. “If cases continue to increase, the occupancy rate will increase too and it will be a strain on the health systems,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.
Many labs in the city have extended the turnaround time for results to up to 48 hours. The city conducts nearly 35,000 tests a day and the daily positivity rate is hovering between 20% to 25%. “This is why we are trying to keep infections low. Though we have curbs and restrictions, we are not under a complete lockdown. People must wear masks and maintain social distance,” Radhakrishnan said.