COVID Third Wave to impact on October?
According to niti aayog head member VK Paul, there would be 23% hospitalizations in the approaching COVID-19 spike, and the federal government has been instructed to prepare 2 lakh ICU beds. According to media sources, the Niti Aayog's prediction is greater than its prognosis from september 2020, just before the COVID-19 second wave, when the group predicted that almost 20% of infected individuals with severe/moderate' symptoms will require hospitalisation.
The niti aayog has recommended that the government prepare for the worst by keeping 2 lakh ICU beds, 1.2 lakh ICU beds with ventilators, 7 lakh non-ICU hospital beds (of which 5 lakh are oxygen-enabled), and 10 lakh COVID isolation care beds on standby by next month.
The recommendation to maintain 2 lakh ICU beds on hand is based on the hospitalisation trend found in the second wave, which occurred in april and june of this year. According to a study, the active caseload of COVID was 18 lakh on june 1, and among the ten states with the most instances, 21.74%of all infected individuals required hospitalisation, with 2.2% in ICU.
The announcement comes after india was hit by a second wave of COVID-19 that peaked in april and May, with over 3 lakh infections on certain days. VK Paul, who is also the chairman of the national government's COVID-19 task group, has warned that india might see a startling 4-5 lakh coronavirus infections per day in September.