Pune civic body sets up facility that could quarantine 500 people

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has identified the buildings that could quarantine at least 500 people suffering from symptoms of Covid-19 (coronavirus).

Rajendra Muthe, PMC estate department head, said, “The civic body has its own buildings constructed under various schemes. As per the request from health department, we have identified the places where quarantine facility will be set up.”

The civic administration is on alert following the report of five coronavirus cases in the city. The civic officials conducted a meeting till 3 am on Tuesday and chalked out plans to take preventive steps regarding the virus.

PMC officials confirmed that the issue of having quarantine facility for large number of people was discussed at the meeting as Naidu Hospital has facility of only 200 beds.

PMC owns many buildings in the city with some built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and Basic Services for Urban Poor (BSUP) schemes. As some of these buildings are not yet occupied by residents, the civic administration is planning to convert it to quarantine units.

Meanwhile, the officials said that two coronavirus positive cases were in touch with around 45 people and the district administration and PMC officials have started the process to contact them.

The civic body has converted its own Sanas Ground sports building and hospital building at Rajyog Society into hospitals. Within 12 hours, these buildings were converted to a hospital and would be used for quarantine facility, a civic official said.