On Tuesday, the district reported 115 cases. Gearing up for a possible spike in cases during the festive season, Ghaziabad is ramping up facilities at hospitals. Officials said the district currently has over 90 ventilators across government and private hospitals. An extra 976 beds are being arranged for Covid facilities catering to patients with symptoms and requiring oygenation. High Flow Nasal Cannula Oxygen used for treating Covid patients has been made available in nine hospitals, officials said.
On Tuesday, the district reported 115 cases. So far this month, Ghaziabad has reported 140 cases on an average, a marginal increase from cases ranging between 90 and 120 daily the previous month. As per officials, the dip in AQI along with festival rush is likely to add to daily cases. To deal with a surge, the administration has planned to increase testing from the current target of 3,100 tests per day to 4,000. The administration has also kept a stock of immunity boosting medicines for 1,000 people.
“There is an absolute possibility the cases may rise in the festival week. This is a time when the immunity of people goes down due to air quality and crackers. Plus there are crowds. Our positivity rate dipped from 4.5% to 3.5% % in October, but we must be cautious in the coming days. We are making intensive public announcements about distancing and testing. We hope the public will cooperate,” said Ghaziabad CMO Dr Narendra Gupta.
Also part of the administration’s plan is capacity maximisation and public awareness programmes. While the health department’s rapid response teams will be increased from 15 to 25 in the coming days, the current number of 861 surveillance teams will also be increased to 1,000, if the need arises. We are also identifying specific groups that have maximum interaction with people like those working inhotels, sweet shops to prevent further spread,” said Dr Gupta.