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Confirming worst spread, total Covid cases doubled in a month in Ggm
Gurugram Gurugram recorded more coronavirus cases between April 1 and May 1 than the entire 12 months of the pandemic put together, data from the daily health bulletin issued by the district administration shows
Gurugram Gurugram recorded more coronavirus cases between April 1 and May 1 than the entire 12 months of the pandemic put together, data from the daily health bulletin issued by the district administration shows.
Gurugram recorded its first coronavirus case on March 17 last year, which was also the first case in Haryana, and till March 31 this year, the district had seen 63,313 cases. On May 1 this year, the figure rose to 127,033, an increase of 63,720 cases in a month-long period.
Data from the district health bulletin also gives perspective on the surge of Covid-19 cases in the city, especially over the last three weeks. Since April 11, daily cases in the city has continuously broken the previous single-day record -- 964 on November 8 -- with Thursday’s figure of 5,042 cases the highest now.
The surge in cases has also had an effect on the infrastructure, with Gurugram having scant or no available Intensive Care Unit (ICU), ventilator, or oxygen beds for Covid-19 patients over the last three weeks.
Of the city’s 2,347 beds across 43 Covid-19 hospitals, only 2 ventilator beds, 14 oxygen beds, and no ICU beds were available on Sunday evening, according to Gurugram Covid Combat Companion (GC3), a real-time portal managed by the district administration. Of the 2,347 total Covid-19 beds, 1,848 are isolation beds, 499 are ICU beds, and 255 are ventilator beds.
Meanwhile, studies suggest the situation is not expected to improve any time soon.
As per a State Bank of India (SBI) research report, the second wave of Covid-19 is likely to reach its peak by mid-May in India while a CLSA, foreign brokerage, report pegs it in June. The three-member national Covid-19 supermodel committee, formed by the central government to make projections regarding the spread of the pandemic and follow its trajectory, has also pegged the second wave to peak in mid-May.
“The second wave of Covid-19 is unprecedented not just in Gurugram but across the country. We have carried out various measures to ramp up the existing infrastructure by adding more Covid-19 beds, regulating the supply of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) both on the part of procurement as well as the distribution within the city, to mitigate the situation. We are working continuously on various aspects that can lead to the addition of infrastructure, LMO supply, and other such measures that can provide more medical aid to those in need as well as curb the spread of the virus,” said Yash Garg, deputy commissioner.
Last week, the district administration released a statement of various tie-ups with corporate companies and government agencies that will lead to the addition of around 1,200 Covid-19 beds across the city within this month.
The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh also issued an order stating that only hospitals and nursing homes registered with the administration will be provided LMO from the city’s three oxygen refilling stations and no such establishment outside the district will be able to access the plants.
