Several States held drills in hospitals on Tuesday, following a directive from the Union Health Ministry to assess preparedness to tackle any resurgence of COVID-19. A global surge in coronavirus cases, particularly in China, prompted authorities to assess India’s preparedness. The country, in keeping with trends from the past two weeks, reported fewer than 200 cases on Tuesday, with no confirmed reports of novel infectious variants.
While a senior Bihar official said the availability of medical facilities in hospitals, isolation wards, beds, oxygen facilities and capacity of beds equipped with ventilator supports too were reviewed during the mock drill, the Uttar Pradesh government asked people to wear masks in crowded places and at all medical facilities.
In Karnataka, drills were conducted in government and private hospitals that were earlier designated as COVID hospitals. State Health Minister K. Sudhakar said all the designated hospitals would reserve 50-60 beds for COVID patients. Tamil Nadu Minister for Health asked government hospitals to assess their infrastructure to ensure preparedness for COVID and submit a report. Tinku Biswal, Principal Secretary, Kerala (Health), said the State is well-prepared to meet any surge in COVID cases. In Hyderabad, a drill conducted at the Gandhi Hospital found that the hospital currently has 1,890 beds out of which 650 are ICU beds equipped with ventilators. Mock drills were conducted at 302 hospitals in Andhra Pradesh on Monday and Tuesday. The drill reviewed the status of the beds, drug availability, oxygen infrastructure, isolation beds and also the staff.
Professor Giridhara R. Babu writes in The Hindu that the possibility of a newer variant emerging out of the high-circulation ecosystem in China is a real concern. “The primary requirement for understanding this will be based on the data made available by China in terms of epidemiological data, clinical features, mortality, and genomic sequencing. In the absence of reliable data required for modelling, it is nearly impossible for realistic planning for potential waves,” he adds. Meanwhile, India needs to stay prepared and scale up the pace of its genome sequencing. “With over 90% of the adult population already fully vaccinated by July this year, over one-fourth of adults also boosted, and a large percentage of the population also naturally infected, the chances of India witnessing large-scale deaths as seen during the second wave last year from existing variants are slim,” says an editorial in today’s edition.
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