Mumbai: Confident about tackling Covid mutations, say civic, pvt doctors

The Omicron variant of COVID19 continues to mutate Recently three new subvariants of Omicron were detected in the state State and civic health officials have stated that it is possible that COVID cases could rise However BMC and private hospitals are confident about handling any such situation with their experience and treatment protocolThe daily COVID19 patient count in Mumbai is gradually increasing According to the civic body 1410 COVID cases were reported in Mumbai from October 11 to October 20On an average 120 cases were reported each day from October 1 to 10The state meanwhile has reported 18 cases of the XBB subvariant and one case each of BQ1 and BA2320Also Read Mumbai reports 161 Covid19 cases no deathsDr Soumya Swaminathan chief scientist of the World Health Organisation WHO warned that some countries may see ldquoanother wave of infectionsrdquo triggered by the XBB subvariantState and BMC health officials have also issued an advisory asking citizens to follow COVID protocol during the festive seasonAs all jumbo COVID centres have been dismantled and only SevenHills and Kasturba hospitals are currently treating patients for COVID the question arises if cases increase then whatDr Sanjeev Kumar additional municipal commissioner told midday ldquoWe already have Kasturba and SevenHills hospital which have a high capacity for admissions We have other health facilities to accommodate patients We are experienced in tackling COVID We have the infrastructure and expertise to handle the situation There is no need to panicrdquoMore than 4000 beds are reserved for COVID patients in civic hospitals and the number can be increased if neededMeanwhile private hospitals have also said that they are prepared for emergenciesDr Gautam Bhansali chief coordinator between the civic body and the private hospitals said ldquoAcross Mumbai we have around 800 beds for COVID patients in private hospitals and if admission figures go up we can increase their strength within a day and go up to 8000 beds The hospitals and doctors are experiencedrdquoHe added that as per reports the new subvariants are transmitted faster than their predecessors but are milderDr Sujit Chatterjee CEO L H Hiranandani Hospital Powai said ldquoThe past two and a half years especially the second wave have taught us to handle any emergency or spike in COVID cases When the second wave of COVID was emerging the hospital was under severe pressure to increase its number of beds Our hospital has a reputation for handling COVID cases well We are always well prepared in terms of both skilled staff and infrastructure Right now all beds are oxygenated To ramp up our bed strength by 100 will take just 24 hoursrdquoState surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awte said ldquoOut of 21 patients that contracted the three new subvariants only one required hospital admission while the rest of them recovered at home I donrsquot think there will be a huge rise but we canrsquot be irresponsible and need to follow COVIDappropriate behaviour to avoid a surgerdquoDr Trupti Gilada infectious disease specialist at Masina Hospital Byculla said ldquoThe BQ1 variant has the potential to become the predominant strain due to its high doubling timerdquo She added ldquoStudies have suggested that the BQ1 variant can dodge existing immunity from vaccination and previous infection from earlier strains While ongoing mutations are expected many of which will make the virus more transmissible our yardstick will now be hospitalisation and death rate Also it is time to get the vaccine modified to cover newer strainsrdquo800Number of beds reserved for COVID patients in private hospitals