In a span of three weeks, more than 2,000 cases have added to the active case tally in Mysuru, which is reporting an average of 300 cases daily since the past few days.
The active cases were less than 300 on March 19 but the new infections spiked afterwards and the active cases climbed to 2,508 as on Thursday.
Even as health authorities are not ruling out further surge in cases with the current infection spreading at a much faster rate than the previous wave, they are however gearing up to combat the resurgent pandemic putting all the resources together.
Though they have ruled out any shortage of beds at this stage because of the recommendation of more number of asymptomatic cases for home isolation, the patients’ recovery is equally fast with an average of 200 patients being discharged daily.
Barring cases that require hospitalisation, with problems in breathing and those with multiple symptoms, asymptomatic patients and patients with mild symptoms are recommended either home isolation or admission in COVID-19 Care Centres. The decision is left to the patients’ discretion. A total of 596 patients are under home isolation.
Meanwhile, 327 cases were reported on Thursday besides five deaths. The death toll has touched 1,098. As many as 199 patients were discharged on Thursday, taking the number of recoveries to 56,142.
Sources in the health department said, “unlike the previous wave when the primary contacts of the infected used to dilly-dally to get tested, the situation has changed now and the contacts are volunteering for the tests.”
More testing
With more number of persons being subjected to the tests, the cases are going up. The testing and tracing of the contacts had been restructured and the highest number of positive cases reported daily were among the contacts of the infected and not the new cases entirely. Out of 327 cases reported on Thursday, 258 are the contacts of the infected.
At the district hospital which is a designated COVID-19 hospital, patients are categorised and admitted based on their symptoms and severity of infection. “There are about 60 patients who are being treated with admission in the wing having oxygenated beds though the hospital has nearly 288 patients as on Thursday. The hospital was built to accommodate 250 in-patients but the capacity is being expanded to accommodate more cases,” sources said.
Other cases
However, the SARI and ILI cases continue to be treated in K.R. Hospital, which has set aside nearly 400 beds for COVID-19 patients.
COVID-19 patients with mild and moderate symptoms will remain in the designated COVID-19 facility on KRS Road and all critical cases are moved to the K.R. Hospital for handling those patients who may require other medical interventions and investigations.
K.R. Hospital is now equipped with a 13 kl liquid oxygen tank providing uninterrupted oxygen supply to beds for patients with respiratory complications. The hospital has around 400 beds with centralised oxygen supply for the treatment of patients with breathing problems and 50 ventilator beds.
