Active caseload on the rise, health dept on toes

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 2

Increase in the Covid-19 active caseload in the district would test competency and endurance of the administration and medical fraternity once again in the next few weeks.

The active caseload reached 701 on Wednesday, which had dropped to around 250 in the first fortnight of November.

Though positive patients with mild symptoms were being quarantined at home, the rise in active caseload results in increasing the workload on staff monitoring health of these patients.

The monitoring staff keeps a tab on patients quarantined at home and provides them medical support if required. Earlier, the administration had asked hospitals, including private institutions to furnish details of infrastructure and manpower to handle positive cases.

Talking to The Tribune, Civil Surgeon Dr Rabinder Singh Sethi said, “Motivation of health staff, including doctors and paramedics is foremost. Due to hardwork and dedication of medical staff, we managed to tackle the first wave of the Covid-19. In case the infections increase, we will need similar dedication once again.”

Dr Sethi said as most of the patients were with mild symptoms, they were being quarantined at home and to an extent, it has decreased the burden on existing health infrastructure.

“We are providing self health monitoring kits, which include medicines, supplements, thermometer and oximeter to positive patients. We will ensure that patients get medical help in case of need,” he added.

Dist reports 4 deaths, 53 new cases

Amritsar: The district health authorities reported four deaths on Wednesday with which the Covid toll reached 506. The deceased have been identified as Narinder Singh (71) from the city, who was admitted to a hospital in Ludhiana; Kuldeep Kaur, (89) of Golden city; Parvesh Kumar (74) of Baba Batala and Ram Kumar (53) of Subhash colony. The district has also reported 53 new positive cases with which the total count increased to 13,217. The new cases include 30 influenza-like illness cases and 23 contacts of positive patients. Meanwhile, with the recovery of 38 patients, the recovery count has increased to 12,010. The district at present has a total of 701 active cases. TNS