Pune District Collector Naval Kishore Ram on Saturday said that the COVID-19 situation in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits have been improving and the cases are expected to drop by the end of August.
"There are certainly signs of improvement in the entire district. It was already under control in rural areas while in PMC and PCMC limits, things are improving. We expect that by the end of August, there will be a significant drop in positive cases as the spread of virus would have been effectively controlled by then," Ram told the Indian Express.
The District Collector said that people with pre-existing illnesses are affected the most. "That is why we have put curbs on their movements. We have repeatedly urged such people as well as their families to take extra care of them. They should avoid stepping out of their homes unless it is an emergency. And if they want to step out, they should avoid gatherings and compulsorily use masks," he said.
With complaints of shortage of beds and ventilators coming from patients and their relatives, Ram said that once the jumbo hospital facilities are set up in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, these complaints will become non-existent. "In two weeks or so, the severity of this problem will reduce," he added.
Meanwhile, Pune district reported 2,639 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking its case count to 1,05,523, a health official said.
The death toll due to the pandemic, on the other hand, reached 2,414 with 70 patients dying in the district since Friday evening, he said.
1,290 new cases were found in the Pune Municipal Corporation limits, which has recorded 64,576 cases so far.
At the same time, 1,961 patients were discharged from the hospitals, the official said.
