Thane: Health workers prepare beds at Thane Civil Hospital as cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 rise in Thane, Monday, December 27, 2021.
Highlights
- Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to all states and UTs over the Covid situation.
- He has advised them to initiate process of setting up makeshift hospitals.
- For this, they have been asked to coordinate with DRDO and CSIR, apart from the private sector.
The Central government on Saturday asked states and union territories to set up makeshift hospitals and form 'special' teams to monitor patients, in light of the spike in Covid cases across the country.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to chief secretaries of all states/UTs on measures to deal with a possible surge in COVID cases. The development comes as cases of the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 cross the 1400-mark.
For the creation of makeshift hospitals, states and UTs have been advised to seek help from DRDO and CSIR, as well as the private sector, corporations and NGOs etc. "This will aid the process of rapid creation of field hospitals or temporary hospital set-ups. States may also consider leveraging hotel rooms, and other accommodations linked with the Covid dedicated hospitals in government and private sector", the letter read.
In the letter, Bhushan has also asked states and union territories to revisit the dedicated Covid health infrastructure and take necessary action to ensure its ready for operation. He also asked to give a special focus on rural areas, and pediatric cases.
The national capital has been increasingly recording Covid cases, higher than the previous day. About 38 per cent of the total samples analysed at various genome sequencing laboratories in Delhi from December 21-28, have been detected with Omicron variant, according to official documents.
Of the 468 samples analysed during this period, the Delta variant of coronavirus has been detected in 31 per cent of these samples, and rest 30 per cent constituted other variants, according to the documents.
A similar pattern of growing daily Covid cases can be seen in Maharashtra as well. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope has said that the imposition of lockdown in the state was not being discussed at present. State capital Mumbai today reported 6,347 new coronavirus cases.
Finding out the exact figures of Omicron and Delta cases was important in the present situation, and at least one genome sequencing lab was needed in each of the administrative divisions of the state, he added.
