With an alarming surge in the number of coronavirus positive cases in the city, the Chandigarh Administration has geared up to put in place its contingency plan. 147 coronavirus positive cases were recorded in the city till Friday evening and the number continued to surge with reports of fresh positive cases pouring in till late night.
The Bapu Dham colony (BDC) in Sector 26, with an estimated population of 60000 people continues to remain the epicenter of outbreak of the Coronavirus. The BDC, which has been completely sealed and declared as containment zone, has till Friday evening reported 87 positive cases and the number is set to surge, given the demographics of densely populated BDC.
The first BDC positive patient, who is a ward boy at Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector-32 was reported on the night of April 24. At present, there are 125 active cases in Chandigarh. The recovery rate of positive cases stood at poor 14.2 percent in the city, lower than the national average of around 30 percent.
Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore on Friday directed the Administration to keep Sector 48 hospital in readiness to accommodate the increasing number of Coronavirus patients in the city.
The 200 bedded Nehru Hospital Extension building at PGIMER and 100 bedded GMCH-Sector 48 hospital have been earmarked as dedicated Covid hospitals to treat the infected patients in the city.
During the daily review meeting, the UT Administrator asked the senior officers to focus on containment zones like BDC and Sector 30-B and intensive screening and testing be done so that the suspect cases are detected on time.
The Administrator also reviewed the situation with all three heads of medical institutions including PGIMER, GMCH-32 and GMSH-16 and directed them to ensure that all healthcare workers and employees are provided with necessary protective gears and the laid down protocol is strictly followed. Currently, 2500 residents are under home quarantine, while 300 doctors and health workers from PGIMER have been accommodated in various quarantine facilities.
Earlier, the arrangements being made in the containment zone of BDC was reviewed by senior officers alongwith representatives of World Health Organization. The Administration has so far declared six containment zones including entire Bapu Dham Colony (BDC), part of Sector 30-B, Kacchi Colony, Dhanas, part of Shastri Nagar, Part of Sector 38 and Part of Sector 52 in the city.
Recently, the Administration had decided that all new asymptomatic and mild cases of Covid will be sent to Ayurvedic Hospital, Sector 46. Only, the critical cases will continue to be sent to PGIMER to ensure that the hospital is not overburdened.
Apart from this, it was decided to make efforts to ensure that no more than 100 Covid-19 positive cases from the city are admitted to PGIMER and rest are shifted to GMCH-32 and GMSH-16 for treatment. The Administration had also opened its first institutional quarantine centre at Community Centre, Sector 47 here.
As per the contingency plan prepared by UT Administration, PGIMER and GMCH-Sector 48 have been earmarked as dedicated Covid hospitals.
The plan is being prepared to make arrangements for about 2700 positive patients on a peak day out of total 3600 positive and active patients on the peak day in the city.
Under the plan, 12 Covid care centres have been listed to be used for confirmed, asymptomatic or mild cases. These include four hostels of Punjab University, Parkview Hotel, James Hotel, Sood Dharmshala, Panchayat Bhawan, Government School behind PGIMER, GMCH-32 Hostel, private nursing homes and Infosys Sarai, PGIMER.
The plan reads, “The Administration needs to make arrangements for about 540 positive patients with moderate but not severe symptoms out of total 3600 active cases on a peak day. For this, dedicated Covid health centres would be GMCH-32. GMSH-16 and PGIMER.”
“About 360 severe patients need to be accommodated in dedicated Covid hospitals on a peak day which would be PGIMER (Nehru hospital extension building) and Sector 48 GMCH hospital,” the plan stated.