Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], August 26: As Covid-19 cases in Kerala continued to surge, post the Onam festival and with over 30,000 new coronavirus cases being logged in the state over the past 24 hours, Health Minister Veena George on Thursday said that there are no ICU or ventilator crisis in hospitals. “There is no ICU or ventilator crisis in hospitals in the state. Intensive care is not a problem in any district at present. There are a lot of worrying campaigns going on. In addition to government hospitals, Covid treatment is also available in 281 empanelled private hospitals providing free of cost for APL and BPL categories. If ICUs in government hospitals are not available, there is a facility to shift patients to private hospitals with ventilator facilities for treatment. Therefore there is no need to worry,” the Health Minister said in a press release. “Out of 3048 ICU beds in the government hospitals, Covid patients have been admitted to 1,020 beds and non-Covid patients in 740 beds. 1,288 ICU beds (43 per cent) are vacant. Of the 2293 ventilators, covid patients were admitted in 444 beds and non-Covid patients in 148 beds. 1,701 ventilators (75 per cent) are vacant,” she added. According to the statement, there are 20,724 beds in 281 empanelled private hospitals equipped for Covid treatment alone. “These hospitals have 2082 ICU beds and 1081 ventilators. In private hospitals, 798 people are in the ICU and 313 on the ventilator for covid treatment. If the number of covid patients increases, the number of beds and ICUs can be increased in private hospitals. Therefore, there is no need to worry,” said the health minister. Meanwhile, according to the health bulletin issued by the state department, Kerala reported 30,007 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, accounting for 58 per cent of the total cases reported in India. As many as 18,997 people recovered from the disease while 162 deaths in the last 24 hours. The active cases have climbed to 1,81,209 while the death toll has mounted 20,134. The test positivity rate in the state stands at 18.03 per cent as 1,66,397 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.
