Take steps to protect health workers from Covid-19: Centre to Maharashtra government

MUMBAI: The rate of infection among healthcare workers in the state is 21%, three times the national average of 7%, informed Union health ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal during a review meeting on Maharashtra’s Covid-19 situation on Friday.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, along with Agarwal, held the meeting via video conferencing with all district collectors and municipal commissioners in the state. Senior officials said Agarwal recommended that infection control practices in the state’s health facilities should be improved.
He also said the state should focus on improving contact tracing and that since the state is mainly relying on antigen tests now, RT-PCR re-tests should be increased for greater accuracy. “The need for training and routine audits was also talked about,” said an official. The CM directed that the administration should ensure that health workers should be well-protected while on duty.
Officials said the infection rate among healthcare workers in Mumbai is likely to be less than the state average. State task force member Dr Shashank Joshi said it was well known that healthcare workers are at higher risk. “It is therefore important to have negative pressure ventilation in wards to mitigate the risk of trasnmission,” he said. In Mumbai, over 1,200 healthcare workers across public and private hospitals have been infected so far.
Officials said it is not necessary that all health workers caught the infection from hospitals; many were infected during commutes or even from the community.
At the meet, the Centre also asked Maharashtra to take more efforts to reduce its Covid case fatality rate, focusing on 10 districts, including Mumbai. The state’s rate is 3.5% against the national average 2.1%. The rates in Mumbai and Jalgaon are 5.5% and 4.5%.
Analysis presented showed that 20% of Covid deaths in the 45-59 age group were of people with co-morbidities; it is 30% for the 60-74 group. “The percentage of people which comorbidities in the high risk category is higher in Maharashtra. The state has been asked to ensure that such people are screened early,” said an official.
Thackeray said the administration should work to ensure that there is no second wave of the infection in the state. Ten districts are adding a high number of cases; 80% of the cases last week were from these districts.