No Covid patient hospitalised in Ludhiana district; all 3,386 beds vacant

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 8

In what appears to be a sign of gradual retreat and impact of deadly virus plateauing, no Covid patient is presently in hospital in the district and all 3,386 beds are lying vacant, the administration has confirmed.

While the positivity rate, a key indicator of virus surge, is well under control (read almost nil), the number of active cases is on the rise in the district, the official figures have revealed.

The Covid data compiled by the district administration, which is available with The Tribune, showed that all 450 beds in government hospitals in the district have been lying vacant since August 23 after the single hospitalised case was discharged on August 22, while all 2,936 beds in private facilities have also been lying vacant since September 4 after a single patient was discharged on September 3.

The hit rate has been below 0.1 per cent since August 22 when it had dropped to 0.05 per cent from 0.1 per cent on August 21. On September 8, the positivity rate touched 0.01 per cent with only one of 9,069 tested persons turning positive in the district.

However, the active case count has been rising since September 1 from 14 to 22 on September 2, 23 on September 3, 24 on September 4, 23 on September 5, 27 on September 6, 30 on September 7 and 31 on September 8.

Similarly, the number of home isolation cases since September 1 from 9 to 12 on September 2, 21 on September 3, 22 each on September 4 and 5, 23 on September 6, 27 on September 7 and 30 on September 8.

The district has also been having no serious or critical case since September 3 after the lone patient on ventilator was discharged on September 2.

With the lowest monthly death count of four recorded in August, a single fatality has been reported in the district this month so far on September 6.

While the recovery and cumulative case fatality rate has been static at 97.6 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively, since July 7, the daily CFR has been nil for over a month, barring five days – four in August and one in September — when a single fatality was reported in the district each day.

The safe trend has been persisting since June when the district had made a remarkable turnaround by recording the daily positivity rate even below 1 per cent.

The development holds significance as Ludhiana had earlier assumed the dubious distinction of being the worst-hit district with the maximum number of daily Covid cases and deaths till May.

If it was mayhem in May when the second Covid wave had rapidly slid into a devastating crisis with the health facilities unbearably falling short, oxygen supplies running low and many dying even without seeing a doctor, June had given a sigh of relief with the signs of gradual retreat and impact of deadly virus plateauing and the safe trend continued in July, August and September when the hit rate further dipped to as low as nil on August 28 and 29.

This U-turn is all the more significant as the daily positivity rate has dropped from the highest-ever ratio of 19.57 per cent in the past three months. The district had touched its peak of virus surge on May 2. The daily hit rate has been plummeting constantly since the last week of May. Ludhiana’s positivity rate had started at a high of 18.92 per cent on the first day of May, further rising and touching its peak of 19.57 per cent on May 2.

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