Amid spike in Covid cases, Steel City upgrades facilities

JAMSHEDPUR: Amid the rise in Covid-19 cases, the East Singhbhum district health department has started making preparations to meet the requirements in coming days in the event of hospitalisation.The state's cumulative active cases currently stand at 132 according to Wednesday night's bulletin. Ranchi recorded 16 new cases on Thursday, taking the active tally of cases to 64. However, no deaths were reported, the state health department said in its Covid-19 bulletin. In Jamshedpur, there are 25 active cases currently with seven fresh cases reported on Thursday.The health department officials here said that they have readied over 3,100 beds for Covid-19 patients at 27 empanelled hospitals, including both government and private ones. Civil surgeon Jujhar Manjhi said that it includes 900 oxygen-equipped beds, and 150-plus Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds. "Further, over 100 beds are reserved for the paediatric ICU (PICU) and neonatal ICU (NICU) Covid cases," Manjhi said. Six oxygen generating pressure swing absorption plants (PSAs) are also ready to use. "The facilities we have currently are adequate and we are equipped to meet the situation," Manjhi added.On Wednesday, the district reported five Covid-19 cases. Incidentally, the urban circle witnessed 80% surge in the last fortnight. Those who tested positive are mostly in the age group of 30 years and above. Notably, between May 12, 2020 and April 12, 2023, the district reported a total of 71,493 Covid-19 cases out of which 70,333 recovered and 1,142 died.The East Singhbhum civil surgeon said due to lack of TruNat and RT-PCR kits, the testing speed is slow but the department is expecting to increase it with the arrival of new kits soon. On an average, 60 to 150 tests are being done currently. Civil surgeon appealed to people to abide by prescribed safety norms in public places to avert infection.