Mumbai: The task force set up by the Maharashtra government to assist it in managing the coronavirus situation, has asked the administration to gear up for non-COVID-19 diseases during the upcoming monsoon season.
Talking to PTI, chairman of the task force, Sanjay Oak, said they have asked the government to gear up for mitigation of malaria and dengue during the rainy season.
“Water-borne diarrhoea and jaundice may complicate the coronavirus situation,” he said.
Oak said the task force has also asked the government to continue care in field hospitals and four dedicated COVID- 19 hospitals till August.
He said the state government has practically taken up all the suggestions made by it.
“The COVID-19 facilities created by the government look adequate. But the virus graph hasn’t seen a decline as yet. We want the doubling rate of coronavirus cases to come to 20 days,” he said.
He said that there was a need to learn from other countries in terms of the handling of coronavirus situation.
The nine-member task force was set up last month to recommend steps to decrease the mortality rate and clinical management of critically-ill COVID-19 patients.
The doubling rate in the state is now 11 days. The number of COVID-19 cases in the state till Friday night was 29,100, of them 1,068 have died. Of these, Mumbai accounts for 17,671 cases and 655 deaths.
As many as 6,564 patients have recovered and discharged from hospitals.
The other hotspots include Pune with 3,141 cases and 172 deaths, followed by Malegaon with 663 cases and 34 deaths, Solapur with 356 cases and 20 deaths, Aurangabad with 683 cases and 20 deaths.
In Mumbai,process to augment the bed capacity in hospital beds is on. The capacity is also being enhanced in the larger Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), officials said.
The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been categorised in three parts- Covid Care Centres (CCC), Dedicated Covid Health Centres (DCHC) and Dedicated Covid Hospitals (DCH).
Threefacilities- one in MMRDA Ground at Bandra-Kurla Complex and seond in NESCO Complex in Goregaon and another one at Global Impact Hub in Thane- are expected to be commissioned in next few days, they said.