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Pune administration fully prepared to fight third Covid wave in light of Omicron variant
During a virtual interaction with officials and citizens’ groups, Pune divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao said that the administration has adequate oxygen and drugs
PUNE: Pune divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao on Monday said that the administration is fully prepared to fight the third wave if it comes in light of the newly confirmed Omicron variant of Covid-19.
During a virtual interaction with officials and citizens’ groups, Rao said that the administration has adequate oxygen and drugs but given that the new variant has a transmissibility rate of about 500 to 600 times that of the delta variant, it could be really challenging for the administration to cope up with the needs and so, prevention is the only cure.
“In the past few months, we have trained over 5,000 medical and paramedical staff and if required, the contractual staff would be re-hired based on our requirements. The State Disaster Relief Fund will also pitch in as we have already discussed about it with the state government. We are definitely in a better position with regards to oxygen and drugs than we were in April but since the R-Naught factor of the new variant is 1.93 which is much higher than any variant, we must prevent the infection,” he said.
Rao said that the same strategy will be adopted to deal with the new variant if at all it enters the country however it is important to shed the fatigue that has crept into the machinery after working for close to two years. “The task may sound repetitive but that is the key. We have successfully faced three variants and then we hoped that life had returned to complete normalcy to the extent that we decided to restart schools from December 1.”
Rao also said that the administration is conducting audit for all Covid-19 centres, including fire and electrical audits. With regards to the Jumbo centre, the administration has decided to continue paying the rent and hold the structure, he said. They will wait for a month and then take a call, he added. “Although we have put a ban on a few flights and even chalked out a strategy to screen international passengers, it is likely that the variant will enter India,” he warned.
Rao added that along with ensuring that Pune city and rural are self-sufficient in terms of demand during the second wave, the administration has also ensured that Covid-19 facilities in the neighbouring districts of Satara, Solapur, Kolhapur and Sangli are sufficient in the event the third wave hits us hard.
Dr R Gangakhedkar, former ICMR chief who was part of the meeting, said, “Although the new variant is highly transmissible, we do not know if it might lead to more hospitalisation or more deaths and so, we should not panic because panic could be counter-productive. There will surely be an outbreak due to the new variant because we must remember that despite the most effective lockdown before the first wave which also got a great response from the people, we could not prevent the outbreak.”
