Closing shops after 5pm, other restrictions helped reduce Covid cases: Coimbatore collector

COIMBATORE: District collector G S Sameeran on Thursday said making shops down shutters after 5pm has helped bring fresh Covid-19 cases down. He promised to relax the restrictions when the test positivity rate dips below 1% in the district. At present, the district has a test positivity rate of 2% .
The collector said the Covid-19 caseload has been plateauing in the district. “Around 12,000 swab samples are collected for testing daily. The restrictions have yielded good results in reducing the caseload. We are now working on to reduce the test positivity rate to below 1% and bring in more relaxations.”
He said there were plans to install 11 more liquid medical oxygen plants in the district, which already has 83 of them. “We have enough oxygen generators and can produce 21,000 litres a day,” he said.
According to him, the district has 7,186 normal beds, 4,526 oxygen beds and 646 ICU beds. “We have set up 573 normal beds, 959 oxygen beds and 176 ICU beds exclusively for kids at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital and the ESI Hospital. We cannot predict the third wave. However, we are ready to face any challenges.”
The district, meanwhile, topped the state in the number of fresh cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, when 198 people were tested positive for the virus. It also logged five Covid fatalities on the day, taking the toll to 2,232.
While 2,33,641 people were tested positive for the virus in the district till date, 2,29,106 of them, including 246 patients who were discharged from various treatment centres on the day, have recovered. Presently, the district has 2,302 active cases of Covid-19.