Private hospitals in Kozhikode have offered to set aside 593 beds and 99 intensive care unit beds for COVID-19 treatment even as 39 people were newly tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in the district on Wednesday.
During a video conference with representatives of private hospitals, District Collector Seeram Sambasiva Rao pointed out that the infection was found to be spreading in Kozhikode. The number of daily lab tests will be increased from 3,000 to 4,000. Focus will be on senior citizens and those with other health problems. Mr. Rao urged private hospitals to provide treatment at the rates fixed by the government.
District Medical Officer V. Jayasree said in a release that 32 of the fresh COVID-19 cases were through local transmission of the infection. The source of infection of six others is not known and one person had returned from another State. Twelve of the new cases are from within the Kozhikode Corporation limits. There are five health workers among the infected. Seventy-two people were cured of the infection.
