TIRUCHY: Tiruchy has seen a steep rise in Covid cases from eight on 31st December to 123 on 6th January. That's more than 15-fold in just six days. Cases have more than doubled in just one day from 51 on Wednesday to 123 on Thursday. To tackle the rise in cases and the Omicron variant, a meeting was chaired by Collector S Sivarasu on Thursday, with everyone from the Health Department, Corporation and local administrations in attendance.
The major decisions taken in the meeting included reopening of Covid care centres, increase in testing and strict enforcement of Covid measures by local bodies. "We have planned to reopen Covid centre care, increase testing and strictly enforce Covid appropriate behavior in commercial establishments. We have enough oxygen and beds available," said S Sivarasu, Collector.
The district is currently testing about 3000 people per day and the plan is to increase the testing to 5000-6000 per day. Covid care centres are to be opened in six places, including Bishop Heber College, Bharathidasan University Khajamalai, NIT Tiruchy, Government College of Engineering Sethurapatti and Yatri Niwas.
The district has 3500 beds currently. Since Omicron is mostly mild, the plan is to treat 80% patients in home isolation, 15% at Covid care centres and 5% at hospitals, said Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS) Dr Subramani.
"For now, we plan to treat 80% of the people in home isolation. We are setting up block level interim covid care centres also. If there are more than 3 cases in an area, a containment zone will be set up. We will coordinate with private hospitals and monitor the cases. We will set up war rooms and block level control rooms to monitor patients in home isolation," said Dr Subramani.
The administration does not plan to paste stickers on houses with positive cases. Sources said that a steep rise in Covid cases is expected after Pongal. The doubling time of Omicron is 2 days, according to doctors.
Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) is also getting ready to face the third wave. They have two wards for Omicron currently. A total of 125 Covid beds for adults, with 75 oxygen and 20 ventilators are ready, and 25 beds for children are ready. Dean Dr K Vanitha said that the number of beds can be tripled or quadrupled, should the need arise.
"We have 25 Covid patients currently, of which five are in the Omicron ward (not positive for Omicron). We can increase beds as and when necessary. We have 21 KL oxygen tanks, and three PSA oxygen plants," said Dr Vanitha.
The district has a 120 KL oxygen storage facility in SIPCOT.
How Tiruchy is gearing up to face the third wave
- Six Covid Care Centres being set up
- Block level Interim Covid care centres being set up
- 80% patients to be isolated at home, 15% at Covid care centres
- 3500 beds ready
- Testing to be increased from 3000-5000
Covid cases in Tiruchy
31st Dec-8
1st Jan-21
2nd Jan-19
3rd Jan-27
4th Jan-35
5th Jan- 51
6th Jan- 123