In light of the rise in coronavirus cases in Maharashtra, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has decided to set up 5,000-bed facilities to admit patients if COVID-19 cases surge in Pimpri and Chinchwad, reported The Indian Express.
“We are trying to keep 5,000-bed facilities ready to tackle any substantial rise in COVID-19 cases,” Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Patil told The Indian Express. As per the report by the leading daily, the PCMC has also started the process of setting up micro containment zones. Patil had on Monday directed officials to deploy beat marshals at key places or intersections to intercept people not wearing face masks or spitting in public places.
Meanwhile, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Tuesday directed private hospitals in the city to reserve around 2,000 to 3,000 beds for infected patients.
In a virtual meeting with private hospitals, PMC commissioner Vikram Kumar and civic health officials instructed hospitals to reserve maximum beds for COVID-19 patients and not to turn any patient away.
"We have instructed hospitals to keep at least 2,000 to 3,000 beds for COVID-19 patients and also asked them not to turn anyone away," civic health chief Dr Ashish Bharati said.
Private hospitals will notify the civic body about the number of beds they have reserved, and accordingly, the dashboard will be updated, he said. Currently, the PMC has over 1,200 to 1,500 beds available at civic and government-run hospitals.
Pune district on Tuesday recorded 1,168 new COVID-19 cases, taking the district's total to 4,00,476. Eight COVID-19 fatalities were also recorded in the district during the day, taking the death toll to 9,200.
As many as 661 new cases were reported in Pune city, while neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad area recorded 204.
A total of 806 people were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recoveries in the district to 3,83,715. A total of 8,868 samples were tested for the sars-cov-2 virus in the district on Tuesday.
(With inputs from PTI)
