The health situation in Prakasam district has now fully come under control with daily coronavirus cases dipping to 20 and active cases at little over 200 thanks to the 24x7 medical care provided by over 1,000 health professionals for over six months.
Doctors, nurses and paramedical staff who worked overtime since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020 now heave a sigh of relief as also the general public who carry on their daily chores without any fear as the second wave which peaked in May/June has almost subsided.
However, this can’t be a reason to lower the guard as the third wave is likely to strike, warn health experts here.
There is a lag of about two months in the occurrence of the disease after a new wave in other countries, they observe while referring to a spurt in cases in the western countries.
“The third wave can be expected in December or January. But those who have been vaccinated may recover fast even if they get infected,” says Government General Hospital Superintendent D. Sreeramulu.
“We have prepared a grassroot-level action plan to identity swiftly the infected persons and start treatment early so that they stage smart recovery quickly,” he tells The Hindu. The recovery rate in the district is 99.03%, he says.
Facilities ramped up
Over 2,300 beds have been kept ready, including 326 paediatric and 67 with medical oxygen facility in 19 government and 30 private hospitals in the district with about 3,000 oxygen cylinders. Now all the designated COVID hospitals have adequate medical oxygen facility, he adds.
Only 53.9% of the over 15.93 lakh people in the district have taken both doses of the vaccine.
Novel Village COVID Care Centres (VCCC) are being set up in over 800 villages to tackle the health hazard at the grassroots level, explains District COVID Management Centre coordinator Dr. B. Thirumala Rao. Health workers will man these centres which are makeshift facilities to treat mild and very mild cases and asymptomatic cases with comorbidities. We will step up testing to at least 4,500 per day even though the case load has now come down drastically. Fever survey is presently under way in the district, he adds.
