Barabati, Nehru stadiums 1st in state to be turned into Covid care centres

Cuttack: The areas under Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) saw the highest single-day spike of 54 Covid cases on Wednesday, forcing the administration to come up with new centres to house patients. Accordingly, the CMC has decided to use Barabati Stadium and the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium as Covid Care Centres.
This is the first time that the state has decided to turn stadiums into Covid care facilities. CMC commissioner Ananya Das and a team of officials visited the two stadiums on Wednesday to take stock of the situation.
“Initially, we are planning to set up a 100-bed centre on the Barabati Stadium premises. As of now, 75 beds have been installed in the air conditioned corporate boxes at the stadium. The areas have been sanitised and well equipped with washrooms,” Das said.
“Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor stadium will be equipped with 150 beds. We have already started installing the beds and work is going on in full swing and it will be soon ready for use,” she added.
Four doctors would be engaged in each of the centres and at least 30 paramedics each would take care of the patients, the commissioner said.
“Low-risk asymptomatic patients with no underlying health conditions will be admitted in these Covid care centres. Doctors and nurses will be there to take care of the patients round-the-clock,” she stated.
A sensitive zone including facilities like pulse oximeter and glucometer will be provided in the centre to keep tabs on the patients’ health status.
Apart from Barabati and Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, three more Covid care centres will be opened in L&T Gopalpur (107 beds), Odisha State Housing Board, Bidyadharpur (98 beds) and on the premises of Odisha Administrative Tribunal (220 beds), a CMC official said.
Meanwhile, the district on Wednesday reported 56 new cases, out of which 54 are from the city limits alone. The other two cases belong to Tangi and Bentkar areas of the district.
Among the 54 positive in the city, two are local contacts, 11 from institutional quarantine centres and 41 were in home isolation. Out of the 41 home quarantine cases, 32 are from the Khatbin Sahi alone, with eight from Parida Sahi of Shankarpur area. The detection of 32 positive cases from one locality has put the city on the edge. Both Khatbin Sahi and Parida Sahi have been declared containment zones.
A CMC official said the 32 infected in Khatbin Sahi had attended the last rites of a deceased person in the area, whose swab samples later turned out to be positive. Contact tracing and active surveillance have been initiated in the area. A team of CMC official has been engaged to carry out sanitisation.
“More swab samples will be collected from family members of those who tested positive,” the official added. All entry and exit points have been sealed and police have been deployed to monitor movement of people.
The 54 fresh cases have pushed city’s Covid count to 452. With eight deaths and 225 recoveries, the city now has 219 active cases.
EoM
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