Mohali Admn gears up for 'Covid wave'

Gaurav Kanthwal

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Mohali, December 24

Three of the four medical oxygen plants in the district will be serviced soon to get them in the running condition. With regard to the fourth oxygen plant, officials in the Health Department said they had enough infrastructure, including oxygen cylinders and concentrators, to meet the demand if the next wave of Covid struck the district.

100 samples daily

At present, 50-100 samples are taken daily. Besides, 2 per cent international passengers are being screened daily now. If the cases increase, the sampling will also go up. — Dr Adarshpal Kaur, Civil Surgeon

The department is gearing up to assess the bed capacity in the hospitals and other centres in preparation for the next wave. The officials said the new guidelines stated that every positive sample of Covid-19 was to be sent for genome sequencing to ascertain the variant. At present, there is no such facility in the district and the samples are sent to Patiala. “The normal Covid testing is done here but samples are sent to Patiala for genome sequencing. For the past 16 days, there have been no Covid case in the district. So, the sampling was also less. At present, 50-100 samples are taken daily. Besides, 2 per cent international passengers are being screened daily now. If the cases increase, the sampling will also go up,” said Dr Adarshpal Kaur, Mohali Civil Surgeon.

The officials said the airport authorities had been asked to depute their own teams at the airport and they might tie up with private laboratories for Covid sampling and testing.

The Mohali Deputy Commissioner, Amit Talwar, yesterday reviewed the arrangements made by the District Health Department during a review meeting at the District Administrative Complex. The meeting was called to take stock of the preparations related to Covid. He urged people to wear masks in all educational institutions, government and private offices, indoor and outdoor gatherings, malls, public places, etc, and stressed the need to keep the spread of Covid virus in check. He asked the officials to increase the testing of patients suffering from cold, respiratory problems and infections in all hospitals.