241 isolation wards created in Uttarakhand amid coronavirus outbreak

Over 240 isolation wards have been created across Uttarakhand and 50- ICU beds are ready in AIIMS Rishikesh in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Dr Amita Upreti, Director General of health services of the state said on Thursday.

"The government is taking all the measures to curb the disease and 241 isolation wards have been created across the Uttarakhand and 50 ICUs are ready in AIIMS in Rishikesh," she informed.

"Doctors posted at Indo-Nepal border are working 24/7. Strict monitoring being done especially for Champawat, Pithoragarh, Udham Singh Nagar dist. We always had buffer stock of medicines but now we have extra buffer stock for 2.5-3 months," she said.

"An ambulance has also been kept in reserve to take the suspected people to isolation wards," she added.

She said that teams of doctors are deployed at the airports.

"Apart from this, there are also teams of doctors at the state airports, so far 393 passengers have been monitored at the airports, in which 299 people were tested and sent home, 94 people were kept for testing," she said.

"N-95 masks have been provided to every headquarters in all districts. I have also directed that information about coronavirus be disseminated through cinema halls, TV channels, newspapers. Everything is under control," she added.

Meanwhile, four patients out of which two had travelled to Indonesia, one to Bahrain and one to China have been kept under observation in RIMS hospital in Jharkhand.

Dr Vivek Kashyap, Medical Superintendent of RIMS hospital said, "We've received 4 patients so far-2 of them had travelled to Indonesia, 1 to Bahrain and 1 to China. Their blood samples have been sent for test. They were showing symptoms like throat pain & body ache."

"But we have kept them under observation as the protocol permits. If they are tested negative they will be sent to home isolation," he added.

On the other hand Dr Viresh Bhushan, deputy civil surgeon in Haryana's Sirsa said, "A person with travel history to Italy had come to us 3 days back, complaining of cold and cough. He was kept in isolation ward. His sample was taken and sent for test. The results came in yesterday, it turned out to be negative."

"We had sent 3 samples so far, all of them tested negative," he added.

Globally, deaths due to COVID-19 have crossed 3,000. The deadly virus, that originated in China late last year, continues to spread around the world and has infected more than 90,000 people.