Mumbai’s recovery rate at a healthy 70%

Mumbai: There has been a 46 per cent rise in the number of Covid patients recovering and being discharged from Mumbai hospitals in the last one month. As per data, 26,340 patients were discharged between May 19 and June 18, which increased to 38,636 between June 19 and July 18. Civic officials and health experts have attributed this surge over the last 45 days to a better understanding of the disease trajectory, confidence among patients on seeking home care and the availability of health infrastructure.

According to data provided by the civic health department, on an average, 1,288 patients were discharged per day last month, up from 878 between May 19 and June 18. Further, the data shows that the doubling rate of cases in the city has increased to 56 days while the weekly growth rate has reduced to 1.26 per cent.

Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said they could achieve this target due to aggressive testing, early diagnosis, contact tracing and awareness among citizens. “People have now started taking the virus seriously, consulting their doctors immediately if they have coronavirus-like symptoms. 5,903 patients recovered and were discharged in the 24 hours preceding July 2,” he said.

Kakani further said, more than 70 per cent of patients are asymptomatic and waiting four to five days to recover, after which they are home quarantined for 17 days. “Those cured are strictly following home quarantine protocols so we are getting good results in Mumbai,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mumbai's recovery rate is nearly 15 per cent more than that of the rest of Maharashtra, which is at 55.62 per cent. Around mid-June, the recovery rate stood at 50 per cent, improving marginally to 57 per cent in the first week of July and now stands at 70 per cent.

General physicians said confidence among doctors on treating patients at home and the reduced panic index have played a role too. “For every patient who is hospitalised, I am treating 10 through video consultations. Home isolation has played a crucial part in disease control,” he said. A public hospital doctor said availability and knowledge about the window of steroid use, antivirals and anti-inflammatory drugs is also aiding recovery.

Meanwhile, the state’s recovery rate, that was running parallel to Mumbai’s initially, is now around 55 per cent . One of the reasons could be that districts like Pune, Thane and Raigad continue to have a recovery rate of less than 50 per cent. With these districts adding a large number of cases for the last two weeks, active cases have gone up, bringing down the recovery rate. The total active cases in the state as on Monday were 1,28,730, of which merely 18 per cent were in Mumbai.

source https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumbai/mumbais-recovery-rate-at-a-healthy-70