This story is from July 8, 2020

Dist’s Covid tally may touch 4k by Aug 1

Dist’s Covid tally may touch 4k by Aug 1
Coimbatore: The health department on Tuesday said the district’s Covid-19 tally would touch 2,000 by July 20 and 4,000 by August 1, going by the current doubling time of cases, which now stands at 10.2 days.
When the count touches 4,000, officials say, there would be more than 1,000 active cases in hospitals from the district alone. In this wake, the district administration has asked the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) to ready a 200-bed Covid-19 treatment facility to be used, if the ESI Hospital runs out of beds in the next few weeks.
District collector K Rajamani says, “Since CMCH is a tertiary care hospital, we have not used the facility to treat Covid-19 patients so far.
But we have asked the hospital to arrange a facility to house and treat such patients if need arises.”
The Coimbatore District Small Scale Industries Association (Codissia) has, meanwhile, green signalled the health department to takeover more halls, if required, to extend the Covid care centre for asymptomatic patients by adding more beds.
As on Monday, the district has reported a total of 839 Covid-19 cases. Of them, 548 are active cases. Health officials say when the tally hits 4,000, there would be more than 1,000 active cases, which would require hospitalization or institutional quarantine.
Presently, the district has 500 beds in the ESI Hospital and another 350 in the Codissia Covid care centre. The district collector says, “Around 360 Covid patients are undergoing treatment in the ESI Hospital, which could be upgraded to an 800-bed facility. And we have already begun working on it. Once the hospital starts treating only symptomatic patients, there would be more free beds.”

Patients from neighbouring Tirupur and Ooty, and further away districts such as Namakkal have been coming to the ESI Hospital for treatment, he said without directly mentioning that there was a high demand for the beds in the hospital.
According to Dr G Ramesh Kumar, deputy director of public health, the government sector alone has 165 to 170 ventilators on standby, if required. “There is also a 100-bed Covid-19 treatment and isolation ward in the Pollachi government hospital and another 100-bed facility for symptomatic and asymptomatic patients in the Hindusthan Hospital in Mettupalayam.”
Codissia authorities, who have facilitated the 350-bed Covid care facility at their trade fair complex, have agreed to let the health department extend the facility to more halls. The complex has five halls, of which hall D has already been converted into the Covid care facility. While this is the smallest hall in the complex, this is the most well-equipped one.
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