The fall in COVID-19 cases reported every day has prompted the district administration to consider closing a few COVID-19 Care Centres that it had established at education institutions.
The district that had 5,000-odd beds at COVID-19 Care Centres for asymptomatic persons was seeing only around 500 beds occupied. This had prompted the administration to consider a reduction in beds at the centres, starting with those at educational institutions, Collector K. Rajamani told journalists here on Monday.
Many of the beds that the administration had established at the centre at the CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex, a wedding hall and a few institutions were never occupied even when the COVID-19 positive case count was high.
As of November 2, only 294 of the 1,128 beds in the CODISSIA complex were occupied, he said and added that even in hospitals that treated symptomatic persons, many beds were vacant to underscore his point.
The district was doing well in containing the infection spread. The infection rate was 5% well below the State average of 5.3%. The death percentage was 1.3, again better than the State’s 1.5, Mr. Rajamani added.
Though there had been a reduction, the district administration was leaving nothing to chance. In the next few days, it would form teams of officials from the Revenue, Coimbatore Corporation or other local bodies and police to conduct frequent checks in shopping areas.
In the city, there would be dedicated teams on 100 Feet Road, Cross Cut Road, Big Bazaar Street, Oppanakara Street, R.G. Street and its neighbourhood to check overcrowding and ensure observance of physical distance norms.
For, it did not want a spike in cases.
In fact, the administration was contemplating if it should post personnel there on shifts till Deepavali, he added.
