CHENNAI: With Covid-19 cases increasing again, the Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan wrote a letter to all district Collectors, the Chennai Corporation Commissioner, health teams at the district-level and others on Monday, instructing them to ensure that all 1.15 lakh beds currently available for Covid treatment are fully operational.
Officials were also instructed to ensure that an additional 50,000 beds, especially in Covid care centres including at interim care centres adjacent to habitations, streets and wards, are made fully operational.
War rooms have been fully activated and functional in the districts. They should keep the State war room and the Directorate of Public Health control room updated daily, Radhakrishnan said.
For more testing, adequate screening centres should be operational and human resources should be deployed in the centres with standard blood test and other equipment. The Covid care centres also should be provided with necessary staff at all levels, Radhakrishnan said. Indian Medicine and Siddha Covid care centres also should be operationalised so that willing persons and those with asymptomatic and mild disease are treated in these centres under the supervision of respective doctors, the Health Secretary said.
Instructing officials to strictly ensure face mask compliance by people, he said if needed, regulatory officials should not hesitate to repeatedly penalise the defaulters. Strict adherence to social distancing, frequent handwashing and also ensuring that closed and crowded places are adequately ventilated are important, Radhakrishnan said.