Punjab ramps up facilities as infections surge again

Chandigarh, November 15

As Punjab witnesses a resurgence of Covid-19 cases, the state Health Department is gearing up for a second peak in the infection curve. The state is now gearing up to increase its level-2 (critical with oxygen beds) and level-3 (very critical with ICU and ventilators) facilitates.

Jalandhar and Mohali are seeing a massive upsurge while the number of cases in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Patiala continues to be high. For the past week, over 500 new cases are being detected each day, with 547 being reported today. The number of deaths, though lesser than in September, is high in comparison to the number of active patients.

A new mathematical curve, predicted by a leading non-profit organisation, said 21,000 new cases could be added in the state between November 9 and December 10. Officials in the Health department said so far, they had been following these predictions to ramp up their facilities and plan healthcare accordingly. However, this time, they believe the cases could be much higher than what was being predicted using mathematical calculations.

Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, state nodal officer for Covid, said the pandemic spread had shown that the number of cases in the second wave were far more than in the first wave, and also more severe. “We are accordingly formulating our healthcare strategy. The daily testing had peaked at 30,000 at the height of the first wave, which is now around 22,000 per day. The positivity rate in the first wave peaked at nine per cent. It is still at three per cent. Nevertheless, we are increasing contact-tracing and also adding more beds to level-2 ( from 5,200 to 7,000 beds) and level-3 ( from 750 to 1,000) facilities,” he said. — TNS