AP Covid-19 dashboard shows murky figures in bed vacancies

Vijayawada: The total count of the Covid-19 positive cases in Andhra Pradesh reported till August 12 is 2,54,146, the number of cases discharged 1,61,425 and deceased is 2,292. This leaves 90,425 active cases in the state.

However, the real time data of the Andhra government’s online portal shows that only 14,732 Covid positive patients were admitted to hospitals while there are 40,227 beds available at hospitals in the 13 districts, which means 25,495 beds are vacant.

People can get the details of bed availability in government and private hospitals on the dashboard http://dashboard.covid19.ap.gov.in/ims/hospbed_reports/

The dashboard would display the details of ventilators, oxygen beds, general beds and ICU beds across the 13 districts in the state. It contains the data of total beds, beds occupied and beds available in all categories.

The dashboard is real-time data which gets auto-updated every time there is an admission or discharge from the hospital.

If the dashboard displayed right data, only 16.29 % of the active cases are being treated at hospitals and, only 0.5% (443 cases) Covid positive patients are serious requiring ventilator support. Over 1,177 ventilator equipped beds are vacant.

The real-time data on dashboard also explains that over 83% of the Covid-affected people are either at their homes or Covid Care Centres.

Ironically, complaints of non-availability of beds at Covid hospitals are coming to fore and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has been insisting that the concerned authorities allot beds within 30 minutes of the patient approaching the hospital.

Jagan, in a serious note, warned the district administration officials overseeing the Covid arrangements of strict action if the patients were denied beds.

The case fatality rate has also dipped to 0.9%, if the latest data available is taken into consideration.

It is strange to find the dashboard displaying availability of vacant beds even when the state is recording close to 10,000 cases every day.

The state also claimed to have conducted 26,49,767 Covid tests so far, with 49,621 tests per million and the positivity rate at 9.59 per cent.