3 days ago
Uptick in Covid cases, symptoms mostly mild
Pune: Several city hospitals are of late reporting an uptick in Covid-19 patients, most with mild symptoms.
Dr Piyush Chaudhary, an infectious disease specialist at Jehangir Hospital, confirmed the uptick in cases.
"The number of cases being detected is definitely increasing, but predominantly they are milder.
Only patients who are elderly or have comorbidities with multiple medical problems are experiencing severe disease," he said.
The hospital currently has two Covid patients in the ICU, both elderly individuals aged 75-80 years with multiple underlying health conditions.
Healthcare professionals are observing a growing demand for precautionary vaccine doses amid increase in Covid cases.
Reasons: Patients' immunity from last shots in 2022 has begun to wane and current variants differ from those the earlier vaccines were designed to combat.
Most new cases are being attributed to the Omicron sub-variant JN.1. Other strains, including NB 1.8.1 and LF.7, are also under observation, according to recent reports.
Dr Chaudhary said, "The increase in Covid cases has been noticeable over the last two weeks, with more cases appearing this week.
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It's gradually increasing."
He attributed part of the rise in detected cases to increased testing. "Now that Covid is everywhere in the news, people are testing more," Dr Chaudhary said.
"While there is increased interest from patients regarding vaccination, Covid vaccines are currently not available in the market. The vaccines we previously administered offer some protection against severe disease, though they were formulated for earlier variants.
An updated vaccine would help boost antibody response and provide enhanced protection against current strains," he said.
Dr Ameet Dravid, an infectious diseases expert with Noble Hospital, said, "There's a definite uptick in Covid cases. This week we've had around six cases, with the majority seen in the outpatient department. Two patients are currently admitted in the ICU."
He said, "One is 25-year-old, who developed seizures after having fever for two days and tested positive for Covid.
The second is a 70-year-old woman, who came with breathlessness. We initially thought it was heart-related, but her Covid test also came positive. Both ICU patients are recovering."
Dr Dravid, "Swab samples of the patients have gone to NIV, and only those confirmed by it will be part of government Covid data statistics. The actual number of cases is likely to be much higher because private labs are testing but government reporting only includes NIV-confirmed samples."
He said there had been an uptick in upper respiratory tract illnesses, with some turning out to be Covid. The majority were H1N1 or swine flu, though.
Dr Ajit Tambolkar, intensivist at Poona Hospital, said, "We have a Covid patient, a 70-year-old diabetic man, in the isolation ward. He doesn't require ICU care. Another was discharged recently — a young girl with no comorbidities but had recent travel history. She has been discharged.
The 70-year-old man initially needed oxygen, which was stopped on Friday. These cases came in the last seven days. We had no Covid cases before that.
Symptoms are mild — cough, cold, fever and flu-like symptoms. We suggest people seek medical intervention if their symptoms last for more than three days."
Dr Nikhil Phadke, founder-director and chief science officer of GenePath Diagnostics, said "We have started seeing Covid positives again after a long time in the past 10 days.
But the uptick doesn't seem dramatic so far."
A senior state health department official said, "No Covid vaccine is available currently because manufacturing stopped due to reduced demand in the past. The latest uptick in Covid cases is expected as it's endemic, and we have more H1N1 cases than Covid at present. Vaccination is a preventive policy when infections are on a large scale. According to public health experts, Covid vaccination is not required currently as it is endemic and the number of such cases is within normal parameters.
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