PMC to adopt ‘wait and watch’ policy on reactivation of Covid care centres
In the last 15 days, the number of active patients in the city has been increasing. On December 13, there were 758 active cases; this number has now increased to 1,069 on December 28. Though active cases have increased, most patients prefer to be isolated at home, said, officials
PUNE Officials from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) said they will adopt a ‘wait and watch’ policy for reactivating Covid-19 care centres (CCCs) for isolation and the scale of operations will depend on the response received from the people.
In the last 15 days, the number of active patients in the city has been increasing. On December 13, there were 758 active cases; this number has now increased to 1,069 on December 28. Though active cases have increased, most patients prefer to be isolated at home, said, officials.
“We will see how the situation evolves. Most people are isolated at home. In the second wave as well, we haven’t received a response for CCCs as home isolation was preferred. If necessary, facilities can be arranged,” said Rajendra Muthe, PMC deputy commissioner.
With active cases rising in Pune, the civic administration has started preparing to restart the jumbo facility if the need arises.
As a precautionary measure, the PMC has put the jumbo Covid-19 facility on the grounds of College Of Engineering Pune (COEP) on standby to admit patients if numbers start to increase exponentially.
“Medical equipment is already at the facility. We also have a database of the staffers ready with us. Whenever the civic body tells us to activate the beds we can start hiring. In second wave COEP jumbo facility was functional with 700 beds,” said Shreyansh Kapale, one of the operators of the COEP jumbo Covid-19 facility.
In the last fortnight, the trend of Covid-19 cases is moving upward. On Tuesday, 171 positive cases were reported in PMC. The number of patients who are on oxygen support has also increased. On December 13, there were 44 patients who were on oxygen support which have gone up to 57 by Tuesday.
According to the report by the district health officer, in Pune city among the active patients, 707 are in home isolation. During the second wave, the demand for oxygen and ventilator beds had reached a record high but Covid-19 care centres had remained empty with mild or asymptomatic patients preferring home isolation.
“We have to keep in mind that though the new variant Omicron has emerged, the delta variant which had proved disastrous is still there. In the state as well day by day cases are increasing. The only reason is, people are behaving carelessly and not following norms. Many are without masks at crowded places,” said Avinash Bhondwe, past president, IMA, Maharashtra state.