A private lab for COVID-19 testing has been approved for the district. This will be in addition to the two government labs functioning here, said Beela Rajesh, the monitoring officer for the district, and Secretary, Commercial Taxes and Registration Department, on Wednesday.
Dr. Rajesh was reviewing the district’s preparedness ahead of the North-East monsoon and the COVID-19 containment measures.
Speaking on the sidelines, Dr. Rajesh said the district had a total of 4,993 COVID-19 infections so far, with 745 active cases. Of these, 236 cases are hospital admissions, including 23 cases in intensive care. The district has so far reported 61 casualties. As of date, there are 46 containment zones in the district.
A total of 53,284 samples have been tested in the district. On an average 1,200 to 1,400 samples are being tested every day, according to Ms. Rajesh. There are 1,000 beds available in the district, with 144 beds in occupancy. This includes 305 beds in three private hospitals.
On the North-East monsoon preparedness, the monitoring officer said the district administration was well prepared for flood control measures. Eleven nodal officers have been identified for the district. The district has 35 vulnerable areas mapped low, medium, and high. The administration has also set up 47 relief centres and identified 2,232 first responders.
A total of 16,000 cases have been registered for violations of Section 144, and ₹ 23 lakh has been collected as fines. Earlier, Ms. Rajesh inspected the construction of the medical college here.