Develop Covid care centres in hotels, stock up on test kits, states told

Amid a large spike in Covid cases, the Centre on Tuesday directed the states and UTs to develop Covid care centres in hotel rooms and other similar accommodations to be linked with dedicated Covid hospitals for the care of mild or asymptomatic Covid cases.

In a letter to the states and UTs, the Centre asked them to enhance the health infrastructure in the wake of rising Covid cases on daily basis and to begin the re-commissioning of the makeshift hospital facilities.

"States and UTs must have also started the exercise to repurpose the beds in public and private hospitals for Covid cases to ensure maximum preparedness against another potential surge in cases," said the letter from the the Union Health Ministry.

State and UTs were also asked to procure logistical supplies like testing reagents and kits, both for RTPCR and Rapid Antigen Tests and maintained in ample supply to avoid any stock shortage in case of sudden increase in the number of cases. The states and UTs have been advised to take these preparatory measures with highest priority and to ensure the regular monitoring of these measures at the state level.

Meanwhile, India continues to report growing trajectory of daily Covid caseload. On Tuesday, a total of 37,479 Covid cases along 124 deaths were reported.

The active caseload has also jumped to 1,71,830 which constitutes 0.49 per cent of the total positive cases.

--IANS

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