The Kozhikode district administration is learnt to be making arrangements to tackle the spike in COVID-19 cases being witnessed now.
COVID first-line treatment centres (FLTCs), which had been inactive after the infections saw a dip in the past few months, would be revived, said a senior Health department official on Thursday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recently directed district collectors to ensure that at least one FLTC is functional in each district. At one point, there were around 30 such centres in Kozhikode district, where asymptomatic infected persons and those with mild symptoms were admitted. With the government prioritising home isolation strategy and the dip in total number of cases, the number of people going there came down.
Another plan is to have more tests to detect the infection early. There was a time when over 20,000 tests were conducted in the district in a day, including those at mega camps and through mobile medical units. As the government’s testing strategy changed, the number of tests also came down. Right now, more reliance is on RT-PCR tests, which is time consuming, but more accurate. The health official indicated that the State’s testing strategy might change in tune with Central guidelines.
TPR 19.92%
Meanwhile, 1,274 people tested positive for the virus in the district on Thursday. The daily test positivity rate rose to 19.92%.
Only 6,497 samples were tested. Active caseload from the district rose to 6,992. The only source of relief is that very few people are seeking hospitalisation now. Seventy five people are undergoing treatment in various government hospitals and 163 others are in private hospitals. This number could, however, go up if the total number of cases surge again.
The surveillance dashboard of the COVID Jagrata portal is yet to upload details on the intensive care unit beds and oxygen availability in the district.
