COVID-19: Despite surge in cases, hospitalisation rate low in J&K, says officials

95% can be treated at home; deaths of unvaccinated, co-morbidities mostly reported

Srinagar, Jan 15 : Amid the steep surge in Covid-19 cases in the past few days, doctors working at different hospitals of Jammu and Kashmir said that though cases have increased in the last 10 days, cases haven’t increased proportionally.
Professor and HoD Community Medicine GMC Srinagar Dr Muhammad Salim Khan told that though cases have increased but hospitalization rates haven’t increased too much what were witnessed in second wave.
Khan said there are very mild symptoms and chest involvement is very minimal besides that severity is very low as of now.
A senior doctor from GMC Jammu said around 90 per cent of the patients are “asymptotic” and the rest are showing mild symptoms like “sore throat, low-grade fever and bodyache”.
He said that it took 25 days for daily cases to rise from 100 to 1000, during the second wave of Covid-19, the numbers were more than doubled in just 13 weeks in the third wave.
“Roughly double the number of cases is being recorded in half the time in the present Omicron wave,” he said. “The high infectivity rate of Coronavirus during the present wave should not be taken lightly and people must continue following Covid appropriate behaviour.”

Dr Naveed Nazir HOD at Chest Disease Hospital Srinagar told that hospitalization hasn’t increased that much what we witnessed in the second wave and there is less severity as compared to the second wave.
Doctors from other hospitals also said that most patients have either no symptoms or mild symptoms, and are being discharged and recommended to remain in home isolation.
The official further said, “Though the cases have increased suddenly in Jammu and Kashmir but majority of them have mild symptoms and they can be treated in home isolation.”
He said that doctors are identifying patients with mild, moderate and serious symptoms and patients with mild symptoms with no co-morbidities and are advised to remain in home isolation so that proper care of patients with moderate and severity and patients with co-morbidities is admitted.
“We want to reduce bed occupancy so that the serious and moderate patients get better and timely treatment to decrease loss of life,” he added.
Meanwhile officials also said that most deaths which are being reported so far are of unvaccinated people or vaccinated people who have underlying problems.
“Vaccination is not going to protect you from getting the infection or transmitting it, but it will protect people from serious illness or death due to COVID-19. So everyone should get vaccinated,” officials said.
“Unlike the second wave, the hospitals are not seeing deaths of those without any pre-existing health conditions. Most of the patients dying now are people with comorbidities,” they said—(KNO)