The team, led by Manoj Joshi, additional secretary in the ministry of food processing industries, has flown down from New Delhi to monitor testing efforts, management of lockdown and supply chain issues in the state, sources told ET.
The team will also visit Pune. According to the sources, the team will monitor enforcement of the guidelines issued by the central government with regards to Covid-19. This includes implementation of containment strategies as per the National Covid Action Plan, the testing strategy and containment plan for large outbreaks.
In Mumbai and Pune, the task for the local administration is to look at hospitalisation facility, preparation of the state in terms of available beds, ramping up the number of hospitals and care centres dedicated to Covid-19 management. “We are nowhere near the peak; worst is yet to come”, said an official of state government, who requested not to be named.
The biggest worry for officials in Mumbai is to contain the disease before the arrival of monsoons in June. For this, their needs to be preparation to deal with monsoon-related ailments so that local workers are not exhausted. “We need early containment, because we need to prepare ourselves for other seasonal outbreaks,” the official said.
The other concern for the state government is that five of the biggest private hospitals in Mumbai are shut. Also, over 150 healthcare workers in the city are infected. According to a national document released on Monday, the health ministry has advised hospitals to set up a hospital infection control committee (HICC) if Covid-19 patients are found in a non-Covid ward.
This committee will be responsible for establishing a mechanism for reporting of development of symptoms suggestive of Covid-19 among healthcare workers.
Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/central-team-in-mumbai-as-state-struggles-to-contain-outbreak/articleshow/75281450.cms
