Journalism of Courage
Chandigarh reported seven new cases of Covid on Tuesday, with the number of active cases now jumping to 36, and the positivity rate, over the last seven days, settling at 1.62.
On November 27, the UT Health Department had issued a Covid advisory for the public, with a follow up meeting being held with various senior doctors and officials on Tuesday to take a stock of the situation and gauge the preparedness of various aspects of Covid management in government hospitals, wellness centres and dispensaries of the city.
Dr Suman Singh, the director of health services, said that in the last two weeks, the UT has seen a rise in the number of cases, with the department now ramping up testing in the community. For now, she said, the department was closely monitoring the situation. “From today (Tuesday), we will start Covid testing in our emergency wards as well. An RTPCR test is needed for genome sequencing, and we have sent 15 samples for testing. So far the results show that Omicron is the prevelaent variant,” said Singh.
During Tuesday’s review meeting, she added, focus was on buffer stock of drugs, as protocol had changed on usage of drugs for Covid. “We are monitoring ventilators, masks, beds. We have an isolation ward of eight beds ready. Though right now, no one has been admitted to the hospitals and all positive patients are isolating at home. The two Covid deaths witnessed in the last two months were of elderley patients who had comorbidities. We have a sufficient stock of vaccines, though not many people have been coming forward for getting jabbed. We urge people to isolate themselves in case they develop any Covid-like symptom and get tested at the earliest,” Singh said.
During the meeting, it was also decided that all RT PCR samples should be tested for H1N1/H3N2 so as to assess the status of patients in case of mixed infection. If a person is found positive, he is asked to quarantine himself for seven days.
