The state health department has asked all hospitals to keep isolation beds ready, remain prepared for RT-PCR tests for Covid and increase the use of masks on their premises.
The instructions, issued in a meeting on Friday, follow a rise in the number of Covid cases in some states.
A senior official in the state health department told Metro on Friday that a surge in respiratory illnesses occurs every winter and the instructions have been issued to ensure that everyone receives proper care in hospitals.
“These instructions are not in reaction to Covid cases. They have been issued because every winter sees a surge in respiratory ailments. However, we are keeping a close watch on the situation,” said the official.
According to unconfirmed reports, eight Covid cases have been reported in the state over the past few days. But officials in the state health department refused to give any figures on the number of infections.
“There is no cause for panic,” said one official.
A state government official, however, said three Covid patients are under treatment at as many hospitals in the city. One of them, a six-month old baby, is on ventilator support at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
“The baby was admitted to the hospital on December 14 with convulsion and meningitis. A subsequent viral panel test on December 20 revealed that he had contracted Covid as well. He is on ventilator support,” said an official at the hospital.
“The baby is from Bihar. He has been brought to Calcutta for treatment because the family has relatives here,” the official said.
The other two Covid patients — both 58 years old — are being treated at private hospitals.
In Friday’s meeting, all hospitals were told to ensure that patients from districts are not unnecessarily referred to hospitals in Calcutta.
“All hospitals have been asked to ensure that there are enough RT-PCR kits. Oxygen concentrators and ventilators should be in ready-to-use condition. All hospitals must keep some isolation beds so anyone who tests positive for Covid can be treated there,” said a health department official.
The hospitals have also been asked to increase the use of masks. “Doctors should wear masks while examining patients and patients with respiratory illnesses, too, should mask up,” the health department official said.
The state health department has also stressed the need to monitor patients with
severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and influenza-like illness (ILI).
“Symptoms that come under the umbrella of SARI and ILI are also the ones found in people who have been infected with Covid. Monitoring patients with symptoms of SARI and ILI helps in identifying Covid patients,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, an infectious disease specialist at Peerless Hospital.
The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) has also kept one centre in each of the 16 boroughs ready for conducting RT-PCR tests.
Officials said one of the objectives of Friday’s meeting was to revive the systems that were put in place at the height of the pandemic, but not on that vast scale.
“This is being done to ensure that the health infrastructure is prepared to handle any surge in Covid cases,” an official said.
The Union health ministry issued an advisory to all states and Union Territories on Monday after “the first case of the new JN.1 variant of COVID-19” was detected in Kerala, according to a release by the Press InformationBureau (PIB) of the Uniongovernment.
The release mentioned that the “states were advised to put in place requisite public health measures and other arrangements to minimise risk of increase in transmission of the disease by adherence to maintenance of respiratory hygiene”.
