Increased contact tracing is imperative in the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic bodies to bring down the number of cases and fatalities, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Wednesday.
Mr. Tope said while the fatality rate (currently below 1.7%) in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) area is under control, it is essential to increase the number of first contacts of positive cases in both civic bodies.
“Presently, 10 contacts per positive case are traced in both the Pune and PCMC. This figure must increase to 15 or 20 in order to facilitate early detection and bring down the death rate in both civic bodies,” the Health Minister said. He was speaking on the occasion of the inauguration of Pune district’s second jumbo COVID-19 facility at Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The 816-bed facility, set up in less than 20 days at the Annasaheb Magar Stadium grounds, was inaugurated online by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.
Mr. Thackeray said even while extending the ‘Chase the Virus’ campaign to all parts of the State, it is essential to impress on the people to keep taking all precautions — wearing masks, following hand hygiene and social distancing norms — even if a vaccine does get commercialised in the near future.
Expressing concern over rising cases in the PCMC, Mr. Tope said the civic body’s case positivity ratio, which stands at 27%, needs to be brought under control.
The daily case surge being witnessed in Pimpri-Chinchwad is expected to come down in the next four-six weeks, Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao said.
“As per calculations of experts at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and the Indian Council of Medical Research, the cases in the PCMC area are expected to come under control only in the next four-six weeks,” Mr. Rao said.
The jumbo facility is to cater to the rising number of cases in the PCMC area, which has seen more than 250 deaths in the last two weeks alone, besides witnessing an average daily surge of 850 new cases. The facility will become operational over the next two weeks.
As many as 616 of the beds in the facility are oxygenated while 200 are ICU (critical care) beds. The mega facility is divided into three sections and is equipped with a 25-kilolitre liquid oxygen tank.
“This facility will prove invaluable in qualitative treatment for patients, especially the needier ones, in and around Pimpri-Chinchwad. This will help bring down cases and fatalities,” PCMC Commissioner Shravan Hardikar said.
Of Pune district’s 31,000-odd active cases, the PCMC currently has more than 11,000 of them. The PCMC’s total fatalities presently have climbed over 830.
