PremiumThe civic body in Mumbai said it is prepared to face a possible third wave of the coronavirus infection in the city. It further said, required medical facilities have been put in place to deal with a surge in cases.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday said in a release, beds at various hospitals, Jumbo Covid Centres, and Covid Care Centres are ready for treatment of patients. "In addition, separate wards for children are being set up in all hospitals and medical colleges as well as Jumbo Centres adding that "separate wards have been set up for pregnant women as well."
Various civic hospitals, Jumbo Covid Centres, Corona Care Centre 1 (CCC1) and Corona Care Centre 2 (CCC2) are equipped with beds for COVID-19 patients, the BMC said, adding these facilities have around 2,000 ventilators.
The release said in the first phase, the civic body had set up 7,307 beds in Jumbo COVID-19 Centres and nearly 77 patients were given treatment there, while 8,350 new beds are being set up on a war footing in the second phase.
Of the 8,350 new beds, 2,200 each have been set up at Kanjurmarg and Malad, 1,500 at NESCO Goregaon, 1,200 at Sion, 700 at Byculla, 450 at Mahalaxmi Racecourse and 100 beds at NSCI Worli. "The total bed capacity of Jumbo COVID-19 Centres has been increased to 15, 657. Of these, 70 per cent of the beds have oxygen supply facility and every jumbo COVID-19 Centre has liquid medical storage tanks," the release stated.
The civic body, however, cautioned that citizens should follow all instructions and guidelines related to COVID-19 prevention.
The BMC said systems for generating medical grade oxygen from atmospheric air are being made available in various hospitals, which will also have oxygen cylinder back-up. These steps will ensure that there is no shortage of medical oxygen, which is used to treat critical coronavirus patients, the release added.
Earlier this week, additional municipal commissioner Suresh Kakani's conducted two- day long review of preparedness for a fresh wave.
Mumbai COVID update
Mumbai on Wednesday reported 863 new coronavirus infections, the highest single-day count since June 5, and 23 fresh fatalities, the city civic body said. With this, the tally of COVID-19 cases jumped to 7,23,324, while the death toll increased to 15,338, said the BMC updated data.
Mumbai has witnessed a sharp rise in new infections and fresh deaths as compared to Tuesday, when the city had registered 570 cases and 10 deaths. The city has reported the highest daily COVID-19 cases since June 5 when the infection count was 866.
The surge in new infections could be because of an increase in number of tests. As many as 37,905 tests were conducted across the city in the last 24 hours as compared to 32,307 tests the previous day. According to the civic body, so far 69,11,526 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the financial capital.
(With inputs from agencies)
