Rising COVID-19 cases putting huge strain on health system: AIIMS Director

Noting that the country was seeing a huge strain on the health care system due to a sharp rise in COVID19 cases AIIMS Delhi Director Dr Randeep Guleria has said that there is a need to go back to all the strategies that were being followed sixseven months back to bring about a reduction in the number of casesIn an interview with ANI Dr Guleria said causes for the fast spread of the virus are multifactorialBut two main causes are that when in January and February vaccination started and cases went down people stopped following COVID appropriate behaviour and at this time the virus mutated and it spread more rapidly he saidThe vaccination drive was launched on January 16 in the countryDr Guleria said if 15 per cent of COVID19 cases require hospital care and one person is admitted on average for five to seven days hospital beds get occupied and with more patients coming the hospitals may run out of bedsAt present we are not only seeing recordbreaking numbers but we are also seeing a huge strain on the health care system Because no health system will be able to manage so many patients And we will have a crisis in terms of patient management Doctors are already overburdened They have been working for more than a year and that also includes other healthcare workers he addedHe said there is a need to keep increasing hospital beds and resources for the increasing number of casesWe also have to urgently bring down the number of COVID19cases he saidDr Guleria called for a multipronged attack to contain the virusThere is a need to go back to all the strategies that we were following sixseven months ago to decrease the number of cases he saidHe noted that there has been a huge increase in the number of cases in a very few days rather than weeks or months that we had seen last timeAsked about some people testing positive for COVID19 even after taking the vaccine he said vaccine prevents a person from getting the more severe disease but it does not prevent you from the infection totallyWe have to remember that no vaccine is 100 per cent efficient You may get the infection but the antibodies in our body will not allow the virus to multiply and youll not have severe disease he saidAnswering a query he said this a time when a lot of religious activities happen in the country and polls are also underwayWe must understand lives are also important We can do this in a restricted manner so that religious sentiment is not hurt and COVID appropriate behaviour can be followed he saidDr Guleria said there was no specific answer to how long the second wave of COVID19 will continue in India and it depends on how quickly and efficiently the spread of virus is containedAsked about the situation in Delhi he said the city has a larger spike compared to the situation sixseven months agoA lot of containment zones were made almost like a minilockdown in those areas We need to start looking at the same strategies he saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever