Kashmir hospitals witness surge in severe Covid-19 cases: DAK

Srinagar, Apr 05: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Monday said hospitals in Kashmir are witnessing a surge in severe cases of Covid-19 infection.

“A few weeks ago, we had drop in number of severe cases, but over the last few days hospitals are seeing increase in number of seriously-ill Covid-19 patients, much like we saw last spring,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan.

“Patients in large numbers are coming to hospitals with severe bilateral pneumonia requiring oxygen, some needing intensive care and the support of ventilators to help them survive the respiratory distress. Our beds are full, oxygen points are occupied and we don’t have space in intensive care units.”

“Patients are coming with bad lungs when it is difficult to salvage them. Not only the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions, but young people are coming with severe disease and some of them are dying,” DAK President said.

“The rising number of cases over the past two weeks is now starting to reflect in rising number of hospitalizations,” he said.

“The number is expected to rise further in coming days as there are still massive number of people in the population who are susceptible to the virus.”

“The virus has once again become dangerous and is behaving aggressively which gives us to understand whether a mutated strain has sneaked into the valley because of huge tourist influx or we are dealing with an indigenous mutant,” Dr Nisar said.

“Another reason for resurgence of cases in the valley is because of public complacency.”

“People no longer regard pandemic as a risk and have thrown caution to the wind,” he said.

“Many people don’t wear masks and they don’t care for social distancing. Huge gatherings are seen in gardens and public functions.”

“Accelerated transmission of Covid-19 within the next few weeks would not be surprising considering the lackadaisical approach by most people towards the pandemic,” said Dr Nisar.

“People must continue to adhere to health guidelines to avoid catastrophic slipup.”

“And, it is vitally important to ramp up the vaccination process and vaccinate as many people as possible that too quickly to break the chain of virus transmission,” he said.(GNS)