Chandigarh armed with 3,000-bed-plan to combat Covid-19 surge

CHANDIGARH: From hotels and dharamshalas to bhawans, the UT administration has made arrangements of 3,000 beds in Covid Care Centres (CCC) if there is a surge in the number of cases in the city.
Health secretary Arun Kumar Gupta said they have around 20,000 personal protection equipment (PPE) kits. The administration has also planned to use schools, community centres and stadiums as quarantine centres, he added.

Under its contingency plan, the administration has split healthcare facilities for Covid-19 patients into three categories, Covid Care Centres (CCC), Dedicated Covid Health Centre (DCHC), and Dedicated Covid Hospitals (DCH), depending on the severity of the infection.
“There are community centres and government schools in almost all sectors of the city. Also, there are covered stadiums in some sectors. Such schools, community centres and stadiums are proposed to be used as quarantine centres. Lodging and food arrangement for these centres will be looked after by the deputy commissioner in consultation with municipal commissioner,” according to the contingency plan in which the administration has prepared for 3,600 active cases for the worst day.
The plan reads, “It is felt that about 1% population of Chandigarh may be tested positive in the worst case scenario. Hence, about 12,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 may be detected considering the 12 lakh population. All the confirmed cases of Covid-19 have to be isolated in some health care facility to contain the spread. Peak day hospitalisation of such active cases may be around 30% of the total confirmed positive cases. Hence, our estimate is that we need to be prepared for management of about 3,600 active cases of Covid-19.”