Bhopal: We're prepared for 4th Covid wave, says health department

BHOPAL (Madhya Pradesh): After IIT Kanpur predicted onset of 4th Covid wave by June end this year, the health department has said that stateís government and private hospitals have 60,000 beds while 178 oxygen plants are functional. In all 32 districts have CT scan machines.

As per National Health Mission (NHM), there are 17,035 reserved isolation beds while there are 30,777 reserved oxygen-supported beds and 13,058 ICU/HDU beds in state.

ì178 new oxygen plants in state can supply adequate oxygen if the 4th wave strikes. A total of 201 oxygen plants were sanctioned during 3rd wave,î department stated.

Pediatrician Dr Pradeep Kapoor said the impact of 4th wave would depend on factors like variant's potential to infect people, fatality etc. Besides, first, second or booster vaccine doses may also play a significant role in controlling fourth wave.

Health commissioner Dr Sudam Khade said all preparations were in place to handle fourth Covid wave. According to certain researches, there is a fair chance that a possible new variant of coronavirus may have an intense impact on whole analysis.

The study of IIT Kanpur's Department of Mathematics and Statistics shows that the severity of fourth wave would depend on emergence of new variant and countryís vaccination status.

As per data, fourth wave will arrive after 936 days from the initial data availability date, which is January 30, 2020. Therefore, the fourth wave will begin from June 22, 2022, reach its peak on August 23, 2022, and end on October 24, 2022.