New Delhi: A fresh wave of covid is clearly on the rise in the national capital, with nearly two-fold increase in hospitalisations in the last 15 days. A huge number of patients having symptoms related to fever, soar throat, cough, and running nose have been hospitalised in Delhi, a health official said on Thursday (August 18, 2022). 


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In an interview with news agency ANI, Dr Gauri Shankar Sharma, Director, Critical Care, Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj, said that the majority of patients admitted are those with other health issues who also test positive for Covid-19.


"The number of patients admitted for COVID positivity has increased significantly. But I`ve noticed two types of people seeking admission: those who were hospitalised for other health issues and accidentally tested positive for COVID, and those who are at high risk and are terrified because COVID has struck them. As a result, they wanted to be noticed," Dr Sharma said. 


The health expert further noted that the majority of patients require ICU due to the illness that brought them to the hospital; COVID is more commonly an incidental or associated finding in them.


All patients who tested positive for COVID received two doses, but patients in ICU are classified as having comorbidities, Sharma said. 


"The vast majority have been immunised. Despite the fact that the booster, the precautionary penetration rate is low, the majority of them have received a couple of doses of vaccination. Immunocompromised and elderly are usually ending up in the ICU. It is not due to COVID, but to other illnesses, with COVID acting as an additional disease," he said. 


COVID has caused a lot of changes, including mental changes like disrupted sleep and social withdrawal, but most patients usually end up in OPD and seeing a psychiatrist or neurologist, Dr Sharma said. 


Meanwhile, Delhi on Thursday recorded 1,964 fresh COVID-19 cases with a test positivity rate of 9.42 percent, while eight more people died of the viral disease, according to data shared by the city health department. Active cases are 6,826.


With this, Delhi's caseload went up to 19,90,355 and the death toll to 26,408, as per the latest bulletin. The fresh cases came out of 20,844 tests, the bulletin said.


Eight fatalities and 1,652 cases of Covid were logged on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 9.92 per cent. It had come down to below 10 per cent after more than a fortnight.


(With agency inputs)