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WITH CONCERNS rising on Covid-19 variant Omicron, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will ramp up its Covid care facilities. The civic body has instructed the dean of all jumbo centres and ward officers to keep the facilities ready so that in case of need they can be activated within a day.
“We have instructed all our deans and ward officers to keep these facilities ready. In case of need, they can be made ready within one day,” said Suresh Kakani, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Health).
On Monday, State Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray held a review meeting on Covid readiness and the new strain. During the meeting, discussions were held on vaccinations, treatment and quarantine facilities that have been deactivated temporarily since there are very few patients.
According to data from the BMC’s Covid-19 dashboard, there are 16,939 beds for treatment of asymptomatic Covid patients of which only 952 are occupied.
Apart from this, over 19,000 beds have been reserved in CCC2 (Covid Care Center) for asymptomatic or mild symptomatic patients and CCC1 (Covid Care Center) for high-risk contacts of positive patients.
In the meeting, private hospitals have also been informed regarding the preparedness. “As of now, most of the private hospitals have at least one ward for treatment of Covid patients. The facilities can be ramped in case of need. We have enough beds and oxygen for treatment,” said Dr Gautam Bhansali from Bombay Hospital, also a coordinator of the private hospitals.
In Mumbai, 115 fresh cases and 4 deaths were reported on Monday. Amid the scare of new variant, the BMC has also decided to increase vaccination in the city. So far, 100 per cent of the population have got their first dose of vaccine while 72 per cent got both doses.
The civic body has decided to collect details of vaccination from private and public establishments. If majority of employees in any establishments found unvaccinated then it will organise a special campaign to vaccinate them.
Currently, no cases of Omicron have been detected in Mumbai. “There are no cases of Omicron variant yet in Mumbai. In the last 15 days, we have got data of 466 people from Maharashtra, who have landed at Mumbai airport arriving from countries of concern. Of these, 100 are from Mumbai and none are Covid-19 positive. But we have taken their samples again on Monday and reports will be out by tomorrow or Wednesday,” Kakani said.
He added, “In case any samples are positive, we are sending them for genomic sequencing. We have collected 200 samples till Monday and more than 150 samples will be added for genomic sequencing. The next 15 days are going to be crucial and currently we are on watch mode after taking all precautions.”
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