The decline in number of COVID-19 cases in Coimbatore gives confidence in combating the pandemic, but the time has not yet come to lower the guard, said District Collector S. Nagarajan here on Thursday.
Mr. Nagarajan told The Hindu that the concern of the administration was to tackle the spread in semi urban and rural pockets where the COVID-19 protocols were taking a serious beating.
Having surpassed Chennai to become the district with highest number of cases, tight measures have been put in place in Coimbatore to stop the spread of the infection, he said.
While stepping up the screening, the focus is more on quality. Currently, about 11,000 tests are done every day and is likely to be stepped by another 3,000 tests. The two government laboratories at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital and ESI Medical College Hospital handle 5,000 samples a day. Plans are on to rope in private laboratories to augment the number of tests per day, he added.
Officials have been instructed to display zero tolerance to false negative cases, while false positive reports are also not being entertained. A fraction of swabs tested at private labs is also to be sent for a repeat test at the State Public Health Laboratories to ensure quality control, the Collector said.
In the event of early detection of infection in patients with only mild symptoms or asymptomatic, the individuals are referred to the COVID-19 Care Centres. Of the 7,100 beds in CCCs, only 2,824 beds were occupied so far. The district has added nearly 3,000 beds in the last three weeks, he said.
From urban areas, the spread is now happening in semi urban and rural areas causing concern, basically because of small community level functions being held flouting COVID-19 prevention protocols.
Just as the Coimbatore Corporation has emulated the Chennai model of daily door-to-door visit and identifying symptomatic cases early using one fever survey volunteer for every 100 households, the suburban Blocks such as Periyanaickenpalayam, Sulur, Thondamuthur have also started early identification.
The door-to-door surveys are led by IAS officers and DROs with extensive technical support from the Directorate of Public Health, he said.
In respect of oxygen beds, the strategy is now to create more oxygen beds, including upgrading CCCs to Oxygen Treatment Centres as the first line of treatment even for patients requiring oxygen, Mr. Nagarajan said.
As of now, 92 private hospitals have been permitted to treat COVID-19 patients and all have been temporarily empanelled under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS). The focus is on ensuring sufficient beds for CMCHIS patients, redressing complaints of not accepting CMCHIS or overcharging of private patients. A special cell has been created to audit the erring hospitals and take action under the provisions of the Clinical Establishment Act. All that the district administration wants from the public is to follow the basics of breaking the transmission chain – masking, hand hygiene, following the standard operating procedures in industry and commerce and avoiding unnecessary social gatherings, he added.