E-Paper
Pune may have 9,642 Covid-19 positive cases by May 31, says civic chief
To house Covid-19 positive patients, the civic body is now planning to turn its institutional quarantine centres into isolation centres, where positive patients can receive treatment instead of quarantining the suspected cases.
The city may report at least 9,600 Covid-19 positive cases by the end of this month, according to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad.
To house Covid-19 positive patients, the civic body is now planning to turn its institutional quarantine centres into isolation centres, where positive patients can receive treatment instead of quarantining the suspected cases.
“We are estimating about 9,642 positive cases by May end and so, we are preparing for the same. Currently, we have ten institutional quarantine centres where suspected patients who have come in close contact with positive patients are being kept. This is like a rolling stock where suspected patients are replaced every 14 days, Gaikwad said.
As of April 30, the civic body found a total of 15,909 contacts of positive patients in various areas which includes family members or neighbours or people that might have come in contact with the person who was tested positive in the last 14 days.
Out of these 15,909 suspects, 5,507 were found to be high risk and 10,402 were found to be low risk.
The high-risk contacts include those who have other health ailments like diabetes and hypertension. Pregnant women and senior citizens are also considered a high risk that needs institutional quarantine.
Currently, the civic body has a capacity of 2,085 beds at the 10 institutional quarantine centres. Quarantine centres stop the spread of the virus in cases where the person is not yet detected positive, but might turn positive later.
“The institutional quarantine will be turned into isolation centres for the treatment of patients. Creating proper institutional quarantine also takes a lot of effort right from arranging beds, arranging food and also toilet facilities,” Gaikwad added.
So, far at least 5,000 high-risk contacts needed institutional quarantine, the civic body currently has 2,000 beds at the quarantine centres.
“We are focusing more on providing hospitality to suspected patients rather than completely focus on treating the positive patients due to the sheer number. We have to provide food, toilet facility and beds to all of them. Right from providing toothbrush to ensuring that all the basic needs are fulfilled, my staff is completely dedicated to that. Logistics is a major challenge for us right now,” Gaikwad said.
He further added that the civic body will not follow the revised Indian council of medical research (ICMR) guidelines which call for home quarantine of suspected patients.
“We are doing around 1,000 tests per day which means 1,000 people need to be housed as they are suspected patients till their test reports come out. Earlier, the high-risk contacts were being quarantined at institutional centres for 14 days which will now be discontinued. These people will be asked to continue quarantine at home,” he added.
According to Gaikwad, the civic body is looking at resolving this problem by taking over marriage halls and appointing central kitchen teams where fresh food can be provided.
The civic administration is yet to take over the Balewadi sports complex hostel which will have a capacity of over 10,000 beds.
“We recently received over 1,000 mattresses, we have to place the beds in a way that we can remove them after a month or two once the pandemic is over and we vacate the premises,” he said.
The civic body claims that 100 percent of the city’s populace has been surveyed as of April 30, and about 50 percent of the population is being resurveyed for precautionary measures through door-to-door surveys. On an average of about 2, 00,000 residents have been visited daily by PMC officials since the last 10 days.
Institutional quarantine centres:
The ten institutional quarantine centres have a total of 2,085 beds:
1. Sinhgad Girls Hostel Panhala (IQ): 350
2. Sinhgad Inst, Raigad Hostel: 285
3. SM Joshi College, Hadapsar: 120
4. Trinity College Hostel, Kondhwa: 150
5. Sinhgad College, Kondhwa: 150
6. COEP College Hostel, Shivajinagar: 300
7. Haji Gulam Azam Educational Trust, Camp: 100
8. GPP: 150
9. Industrial Training Institute, Aundh: 120
10. Sant Dnyaneshwar Hostel, Yerawada: 360
For every 2.6 high-risk contacts, Pune has one bed at the institutional quarantine centre.
