Don't panic, we are well prepared to tackle COVID-19: Ludhiana health dept
Ludhiana: In wake of new cases of COVID-19 surfacing across the country, including the neighbouring states such as Haryana, the local health department has assured the residents that there was no reason to panic. The department said it was prepared and equipped with resources in the eventuality of a wider spread of the disease.
'So far there hasn't been any alert or advisory issued by the department. There is no concern for now. We are prepared to respond to any eventuality with adequate testing facilities, ear marked beds across health centres that can be used for isolation, which we ensure anyway even to prepare for diseases and conditions like dengue and heat stroke. We also have seven government oxygen plants in the district,' said civil surgeon Dr Ramandeep Kaur.
'We will keep the public informed through advisories if there is anything to be concerned about,' she added.
Highlighting that new COVID-19 strains aren't as aggressive as the ones seen during the pandemic phase in 2020 and 2021, senior medical officer (SMO), Dr Harpreet Singh, said that the civil hospital had adequate testing capacity, ready availability of wards to for isolation and oxygen plants to meet any possibility.
'The first thing that people need to keep in mind is that the new strains aren't as aggressive as the ones we saw earlier. There are no reports of any cases in the state so far. But even if people do contract this new strain, the chances of hospitalisation are very low,' he added.
'However, we have the capacity to meet any possibility. The testing facility has adequate kits, we have a ward available to turn into an isolation ward with over 30 beds, and there are two oxygen plants in the premises to ensure adequate supply in case of hospitalisation,' he added.
According to RT PCR lab in-charge Dr Pallavi Arora, civil hospital has not seen any cases of tests turning out positive in the last one month.
'For around the last one and half years we have had an average of around 30-40 tests daily. There are some positive cases occasionally but in the last one month there haven't been any,' she said.
The lab uses around 700-800 testing kits a month and according to Dr Pallavi the supplies come in timely as and when a demand is raised.
Though Punjab hasn't confirmed any positive cases so far, however, a woman from Mohali was found COVID-19 positive after falling ill in Yamuna Nagar, adding to Haryana's tally of nine cases so far.
As of Monday, there are 1009 active COVID-19 cases in the country according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's COVID-19 dashboard.
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