As fear of COVID returns with the emergence of Omicron variant, the focus has once again shifted to the hospitals and diagnostics space with respect to not only their revenue generation but also in terms of their preparation to handle a third wave, should there be one caused by the new variant.
CNBC-TV18 spoke to Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD & CEO of Fortis Healthcare, and Viren Shetty, ED & Group COO at Narayana Health, to take stock of the on-ground preparation of hospitals in case of a surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant.
Raghuvanshi said, “Though the situation had improved considerably but I think the guards should not be lowered, that is the approach Fortis has taken. We have kept ourselves prepared both in terms of infrastructure as well as protocols."
He added, "So the repurposing of areas in order to accommodate patients if and when required, is always there. However, we are not seeing any increased demand for hospital beds at the moment, the number still remains very low.”
He mentioned, “We don't know the behaviour of the mutated strain and maybe it will not require that much of hospitalisation. But I can assure you that the hospitals are much better prepared than what they were during the Delta wave, both in terms of infrastructure as well as protocols. So I think as a nation, we are well prepared to handle any situation.”
Read Here: India's resilience to COVID variants high; Omicron’s impact likely to be less severe: Citi Private Bank
Meanwhile, Shetty said, “As much as one can be prepared for another massive wave, we have everything but the fact is the virus mutates and it could be very different. If it behaves in the same way as Delta does, hospitals such as ours and all other hospitals across the country are prepared to deal with it. If it turns out to be a very different picture, well then it can be treated very differently."
"Everything we have been told about the Omicron variant from South Africa is that it causes relatively mild symptoms that can be managed at home, which again, is not too bad a picture for us,” he said.
In the wake of reports of Omicron variant having emerged from South Africa, a senior official of the city civic body confirmed that at least 1,000 travellers have landed in Mumbai from African countries in the last fortnight alone.
Swab samples of at least 100 travellers have been collected out of the 466, whose list has been received so far, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani, said.
Read Here: India's COVID-19 tally lowest in 551 days at 6,990; Kerala reports backlog of 58 deaths
As far as cases go, India logged 6,990 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 551 days, taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,87,822.
The active cases have declined to 1,00,543, the lowest in 546 days, according to the Union Health Ministry's updated data as of today, November 30. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 53 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 155 consecutive days now.
A decrease of 3,316 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.69 percent. It has been less than 2 percent for the last 57 days.
The death toll numbers have climbed to 4,68,980 with 190 fresh fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated at 8 am today.
(With text inputs from PTI)
For full management commentary, watch the video.
CNBC-TV18 spoke to Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD & CEO of Fortis Healthcare, and Viren Shetty, ED & Group COO at Narayana Health, to take stock of the on-ground preparation of hospitals in case of a surge in cases caused by the Omicron variant.
Raghuvanshi said, “Though the situation had improved considerably but I think the guards should not be lowered, that is the approach Fortis has taken. We have kept ourselves prepared both in terms of infrastructure as well as protocols."
He added, "So the repurposing of areas in order to accommodate patients if and when required, is always there. However, we are not seeing any increased demand for hospital beds at the moment, the number still remains very low.”
He mentioned, “We don't know the behaviour of the mutated strain and maybe it will not require that much of hospitalisation. But I can assure you that the hospitals are much better prepared than what they were during the Delta wave, both in terms of infrastructure as well as protocols. So I think as a nation, we are well prepared to handle any situation.”
Read Here: India's resilience to COVID variants high; Omicron’s impact likely to be less severe: Citi Private Bank
Meanwhile, Shetty said, “As much as one can be prepared for another massive wave, we have everything but the fact is the virus mutates and it could be very different. If it behaves in the same way as Delta does, hospitals such as ours and all other hospitals across the country are prepared to deal with it. If it turns out to be a very different picture, well then it can be treated very differently."
"Everything we have been told about the Omicron variant from South Africa is that it causes relatively mild symptoms that can be managed at home, which again, is not too bad a picture for us,” he said.
In the wake of reports of Omicron variant having emerged from South Africa, a senior official of the city civic body confirmed that at least 1,000 travellers have landed in Mumbai from African countries in the last fortnight alone.
Swab samples of at least 100 travellers have been collected out of the 466, whose list has been received so far, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani, said.
Read Here: India's COVID-19 tally lowest in 551 days at 6,990; Kerala reports backlog of 58 deaths
As far as cases go, India logged 6,990 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 551 days, taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,87,822.
The active cases have declined to 1,00,543, the lowest in 546 days, according to the Union Health Ministry's updated data as of today, November 30. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 53 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 155 consecutive days now.
A decrease of 3,316 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.69 percent. It has been less than 2 percent for the last 57 days.
The death toll numbers have climbed to 4,68,980 with 190 fresh fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated at 8 am today.
(With text inputs from PTI)
For full management commentary, watch the video.
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