Covid-19 cases rise in rural Pune, PCMC limits a worry

PUNE: The Covid-19 positivity trend in the city civic limits was gradually declining, but areas in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and rural Pune, with their rising infections, were a cause for concern, divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao said on Friday.
Rao identified Shirur, Maval, Khed, Haveli and some peri-urban areas as the ones reporting a surge in cases. “As against 14,772 active cases in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits as of today (Friday), the PCMC has 7,771 such cases. This is 50% of the PMC’s patient load. Rural Pune, on the other hand, has 2,676 active cases. Compared to PMC, the PCMC area is three to four weeks behind. Similarly, rural Pune is three to four weeks behind PCMC. The district’s total active case load is 25,692,” he said.

Apart from the PCMC areas, the authorities will now emphasise much on the situation in rural Pune. “We will purchase 50,000 antigen testing kits for rural areas alone. We will follow a 50:50 testing ratio for RT-PCR and antigen, so that there is no false confidence about negative results in rural Pune. All standard operating protocols in place in the PMC limits will be extended to rural Pune,” Rao added.
Fifty-two hospitals in rural Pune would be brought under the Mahatma Phule Jan Aarogya scheme, while the administration would ramp up the bed capacity in a big way, he said. “With complaints against private hospitals in rural areas growing, we have decided to extend the centralised bed allotment, visits by audit teams and pre-audit of hospital bills in rural Pune as well,” Rao said.
Responding to a question on if rural Pune was neglected with the administration so far focusing more on PMC and PCMC limits, Rao said it would be incorrect to say that. “Rural Pune is geographically more spread out, across 16,000sq km of the district, and has a population of over 55 lakh. We, however, have an advantage of an efficient district administration and support system because all stakeholders are involved in the Covid-19 mitigation process.”
On the PMC and PCMC limits, Rao said, “There is enough bed availability as per the ICMR guidelines till August-end, as private hospitals have increased their beds. The two upcoming two jumbo facilities at CoEP grounds and Annasaheb Magar stadium are on track to becoming operational by August 19. There is no final decision on the third jumbo facility. We want to keep it dynamic as we are not sure how the situation will pan out over the next 10-odd days.”
“If need arises, we may bifurcate the third jumbo facility into units of 300 beds each, with one of them possibly located in Chakan and the other in a pre-urban area, considering the situation in rural Pune. That call we will take around August 20,” he said.