Even as the omicron variant of COVID-19 is threatening, the district administration has kept ready an isolation ward with 100 oxygen-supported beds in Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital (TVMCH).
After inspecting the COVID-19 screening facilities at Tirunelveli Railway Junction on Friday evening, Collector V. Vishnu said a screening and vaccination centre had been created at the railway junction as it was an important entry point into the district after the international airports at Madurai and Thiruvananthapuram.
Besides screening the patients arriving at Tirunelveli Railway Junction with suspected symptoms of the viral infection, vaccination of Covaxin or Covishield would also be done after checking the passengers’ vaccination status.
“Since we’ve got the laboratory facilities to test even the omicron suspects, there is no need for panic. When we tested a suspected case here, it turned out to be negative,” Mr. Vishnu said adding that the TVMCH had 1,500 beds with oxygen facility and another 1,500 beds could be made ready in other hospitals within a day.
The Collector also informed that the ‘COVID War Room’, which was established a year ago, was still active to monitor the cases getting admitted in the hospitals and was following-up the cases even after the patients were discharged from the hospitals. The triage centre was also functioning to screen the suspected cases and send them for appropriate treatment based on the symptoms and health parameters.
On the availability of medical-grade oxygen in the district, Mr. Vishnu said the district was having three oxygen generation plants and two cylinder bottling units to meet any demand.
Since colleges are functioning normally with offline classes, special vaccination camps were conducted to vaccinate the students. Even as the district’s vaccination rate was at 72%, new camps would be organised in the areas where vaccination rate was relatively low.
“The people are very much aware of the advantages of getting vaccinated and are cooperating with the administration. Hence, there is no need to ban those who are yet to receive the vaccine from visiting public places,” Mr. Vishnu said.
