Only 5% of Coronavirus suspects may need hospitalisation, says ICMR
He added that the “5% who get admitted to the hospital” are given supportive treatment and in some cases, new medicines are being given.
The Indian council of Medical Research, which is at the front-line of India’s fight against Coronavirus, said on Sunday that 80% of suspected case of the pandemic are likely to recover after experiencing cold like fever and some among the remaining 20% with intense symptoms may require hospitalisation while explaining the nature of Covid-19 disease that has triggered a global mayhem and pushed the country on the verge of a lockdown.
“It is essential to understand the ailment. 80% of the people will experience cold-like fever and they will recover. 20% may experience cough, cold, fever and some of them may be needed to be admitted to hospital,” said ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava during a briefing by the health ministry in the national capital on Sunday.
He added that the “5% who get admitted to the hospital” are given supportive treatment and in some cases, new medicines are being given.
Bhargava’s comments come even as several states decided to extend the ‘Janta Curfew’ beyond Sunday by clamping Section 144 enforcing curbs on mass gatherings, group events, commercial activity except for essential commodities and services and by suspending state transport services in a bid to prevent community transmission of the disease.
The Central government too issued a directive to all the states to suspend all rail services and metro operations apart from interstate buses and more importantly a near complete shutdown of 75 districts that have registered positive cases barring essential services.
The health ministry announced a jump in total infections to 341 and confirmed 5 deaths due to Covid-19 and said the scaling up of testing facilities with ongoing clearances to close to 60 private labs that had registered for testing and capacity augmentation in quarantine and treatment facilities was continuously happening.
“We have conducted 15,000-17,000 tests so far. We have the capacity to conduct 10,000 tests per day, it means we can conduct 50,000-70,000 per week,” said Bhargava.
He added that the AIIMS building in Haryana’s Jhajjar, which had 800 beds, has been readied to treat coronavirus patients exclusively.
