Coronavirus cases have gone up by over 600% in the district ever since the lifting of the lockdown.
According to estimates by the district administration, the coronavirus cases will peak in the months of August and September.
“The conservative estimate is that the district might be recording close to 10,000 cases by September. We expect to see the curve flattening in October,” District Collector V. Vinay Chand said.
As of Thursday morning, the total number of positive cases recorded was 2,456, with 1,034 active cases and 1,382 discharges.
To fight the sudden spurt in cases, the district administration has decided that only those who test positive for COVID-19 and fall in the high-risk category, such as senior citizens and those with co-morbidities or underlying diseases, shall be admitted to hospital.
There are eight designated COVID-19 hospitals such as GIMSR, VIMS, NRI, Gayatri, Pradhama and Care.
“We have now decided to convert King George Hospital too into a COVID hospital. The CSR block in KGH will be equipped with 300 beds and declared as a COVID block soon. This apart, we are going to add another 150 beds in VIMS and have asked all the medical colleges such as GIMSR, NRI and Gayatri Medical College to increase their existing capacity from 20% to 30%,” Mr. Vinay Chand said.
As of now, the district administration is ready with close to 4,100 beds, and of them, 1,670 beds are connected with one-line oxygen and 1,000 with three-line oxygen system. “Our goal is to increase the number of beds to 5,000 and have all beds connected to at least a single-line oxygen system,” the Collector said.
According to District COVID-19 Officer and Principal of Andhra Medical College Dr. P.V. Sudhakar, as per the new protocol, only high-risk groups and those with serious health complications will be admitted to hospitals. “Fortunately, in our district, 90- 95% of the cases are asymptomatic or mild cases. Moreover, the discharge percentage is good and we will balance the bed vacancy with discharges,” he said,
As per the new COVID protocol, all asymptomatic and mild cases will be admitted to COVID Care Centres.
“In GVMC limits, close to 3,000 beds are ready and being used. We have taken over two hostel complexes in Marikavalasa, which cater to about 1,000 beds, and the Hudhud housing complexes accommodate close to 1,400 beds. But now, we have decided to have at least one 300-bedded CCC at every Assembly constituency other than those under GVMC limits,” said Mr. Vinay Chand.
There are 10 Assembly constituencies in the district apart from those under GVMC limits and once they come up by this month-end, the beds at CCCs will rise to over 7,000.
“Since most of our cases are asymptomatic and mild, the focus is on CCCs. Each CCC will have a doctor present round the clock and if a patient develops complications, he or she will be immediately shifted to a hospital. In the last 15 days, we saw just one such case,” the Collector said.
