Only four per cent patients were able to get a Covid-19 ICU bed through the routine process, while 78 per cent had to use connections and clout, a survey revealed on Monday.

The number of Covid cases in India has mounted to 54 lakh and the country has been recording on average over 90,000 cases daily for the last two weeks. Hospitals now are seeing more critical patients than they did in May-June this year. With the rise in critical cases, the availability of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds has drastically reduced.