Government frees up hospital beds as Covid-19 cases drop in West Bengal

With active Covid-19 cases dropping in West Bengal, the state government has started freeing up beds in private hospitals, which had earlier been requisitioned for treating such patients.

“The number of active cases has dropped and the rate of hospitalisation of Covid-19 patients has also gone down. The state government, which had requisitioned a few thousand beds in private hospitals to treat such patients, has started freeing them. These can now be used to treat non-Covid patients,” said a senior official of the state health department.

The state government had requisitioned more than 3,400 beds in around 57 private hospitals across the state. In all, more than 13,500 beds in over 100 government and private hospitals were allotted to treat Covid-19 patients.

While the number of active cases was 31,984 on October 15, it dropped to 29,314 on November 15. On December 14 (Monday), it was at 21,384.

The rate of hospitalisation has also dropped during this period. While around 38% of the hospital beds were occupied on October 15, only around 21% of the beds were occupied on December 14.

Till date, West Bengal has recorded 523,000 Covid-19 cases and 9,100 fatalities. The number of fresh cases reported daily in Kolkata and North 24 Parganas - the two districts which were registering the highest number cases – has also dropped.

Kolkata recorded around 400 cases on December 14. In the last week of October, just after the festive season, the city had reported more than 900 cases on a single day.