In the wake of a sudden spurt in COVID-19 cases in Gurugram over the past few days — the numbers have almost trebled since May 26 — Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri on Monday asserted that the administration was prepared to deal with the situation.
Mr. Khatri claimed that the city has provisions for 4,000 beds and 400 ventilators in private and government hospitals and another thousand beds would soon be added in the government facilities.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Khatri attributed the spike in cases to the easing of lockdown restrictions and Gurugram’s proximity to areas with high incidences of infection.
“Though the cross-border movement was regulated, the borders were never fully closed,” said Mr. Khatri. He claimed that 50-60% of cases reported in Gurugram so far were linked to neighbouring areas. “When we had 250 cases, as many as 141 were linked to neighbouring areas,” said Mr. Khatri.
As per the state health bulletin for June 1, Gurugram has recorded 903 cases and four deaths. The total number of active cases is 615. On May 26, the district had only 317 cases. Gurugram not only has the highest number of cases in the district but also accounts for almost half of the State’s active cases.
Mr. Khatri said, besides the medical preparedness, the administration had been issuing Standard Operating Procedures for industries and others to contain the spread, running a Helpline-1950 that had received around 1.03 lakh calls and issued directions to the private hospitals and nursing homes to not to turn away COVID-19 patients.
He claimed the number of sample collections had been increased from 250 per day earlier to around 600-650 per day and the restrictions in the containment zones were being enforced strictly.
“If required, almost 80% of the beds in the city hospitals could be reserved for COVID-19 patients, though only around 150 beds are occupied as of date. Around 2,000 more beds could be added by converting hotels into paid isolation centres,” said Mr. Khatri.
He said only 30 patients required ventilator support thus far, though none in the government hospitals. Besides, around 20 patients were serious and given intensive care. The district administration has also advised home isolation for those COVID-19 patients who have only mild fever and no other symptoms.
After around a dozen policemen were found infected with the virus a special quarantine and sample collection facility was set up for the policemen at the Police Lines.