963 new cases take district’s coronavirus tally to 76,259

Coimbatore: The district recorded a slight dip in fresh Covid-19 cases with 963 new cases on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases to 76,259.
With 991 people getting discharged, the number of active cases dropped to 6,921. The district recorded two more deaths, taking the toll to 719. The two victims included a 33-year-old man, who died 12 days after testing positive despite having no comorbidities, and a 62-year-old diabetic man, who died six days after testing positive for the virus.
Coimbatore city corporation continued to account for 60.78% of the cases the district recorded in the last one week. Officials said 888 people in the city tested positive until Wednesday evening. Of the 3,608 active cases, 1,187 are under home isolation. West zone, including R S Puram, Saibaba Colony, Vadavalli, accounted for the most number of people under home isolation at 338, followed by the east zone, including Peelamedu, Sitra, Kalapatti Road among others, which has 234 infected people.
Pointing to the growing spread of the virus, the day saw the number of streets with more than three cases each jumping by 9.94%, from 684 streets to 752 streets.
The bed strength in both government and private hospitals improved marginally with 686 beds available in government sector including ESI and CMCH, and 919 available in private facilities. Of the 1,605 free beds, 178 in the government sector and 478 in the private sector have oxygen and ventilator facilities.
Only 5,051 people took the jab against the virus, taking total number of beneficiaries to 3,63,777 on Wednesday. The district had 5,350 doses.
According to the district administration and health department, the prospect of vaccinating people between the age of 18 and 45 with the current disease burden is daunting.
Officials suggested roping in engineering and nursing college students to help in the vaccination drive from May 1. “Engineering students can handle technical issues, like SMS and certificate issues. Nursing students can easily vaccinate 1,000-2,000 people a day with a health officer’s supervision,” city health officer Dr S Raja said. “Anganwadi workers can also be roped in to handle tokens and watch patients in observation.”