Anticipating a possible second surge of coronavirus infections in Jharkhand post the Chhath festival, the state health department has asked all the 24 districts to be adequately equipped with the availability of beds in its dedicated covid hospitals and care centres along with sufficient stocking of medicines and testing kits for early detection and cure.
State health secretary Nitin Madan Kulkarni has shot letters to all the deputy commissioners asking them to be prepared for a possible resurgence citing directives from the chief secretary Sukhdev Singh. The letter, made available to The Telegraph Online on Friday by the health department, mentioned that festivals and winter season coupled with multiple unlocks have already led to a resurgence of infection in some of the states and union territories in the country.
Jharkhand too must now be ready for the second surge, noted Kulkarni asking deputy commissioners and civil surgeons to review the covid preparedness in their districts, availability of medicines for next two months and send details of the required assistance from the state government at the earliest to address the shortcomings.
The letter read, “Ensure availability of isolation beds and oxygen supported beds in the districts as per the earlier issued protocols. Analyse the requirement of covid related medicines available with the district for the next two months and in case any shortfall or extra requirement, convey the same at the earliest.”
The letter also mandated districts to keep excess beds on standby which can be operationalised within 24 hours. “Ensure sufficient ICU capacity as per the protocols and keep sufficient availability of PPEs, gloves, N-95 masks and testing kits for sample collections,” noted the letter, asking civil surgeons to ensure completion of all civil works and modifications of the hospitals/health centres regarding the Covid-19 case that is in progress, by the first week of December.
The health department has also called for revisiting the established standards for contact tracing protocols to be done within the 72 hours of each positive case for early curb of the spread of the virus and mandated all the districts to ensure the proper functioning of post covid cares and counselling centres to keep chances of reinfection under control.
While Durga puja which passed off in October not leading to any surge in covid-19 cases in Jharkhand, the state is yet to face consequences of Diwali which was on November 14. However, since the last two days, Ranchi has witnessed a spike in the cases as new infections reported more than the daily recoveries in the capital even though the overall cumulative of the caseload in the state continues to be on a downward trend.
However, after the state government’s u-turn over its Chhath guidelines by allowing devotees access public water bodies for performing puja (arghyas) following protests by political and social outfits, the health department is wary about the upcoming situation fearing spurt in the cases.
“We can’t rule out a second surge in the state after Chhath after weeks of a lull because of several emerging factors,” Kulkarni commented. Chief Minister Hemant Soren too sounded concerned over the situation after the Chhath due to excessive movement of people between Jharkhand and Bihar for the festival, appealing public to perform Chhath at homes as much as possible.
Soren’s party—Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on the other hand had warned opposition BJP to own up the responsibility in case of crisis accusing the saffron camp of playing ‘cheap politics’ by raking up religious sentiments over Chhath guidelines ignoring the threats posed by the pandemic.
JMM’s general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharjee said, “BJP incited religious sentiments by orchestrating protests in the state to mislead public over state government’s earlier Chhath guidelines banning the use of water bodies despite Soren government issuing the guidelines in accordance with the norms set by the Union government. BJP must be held accountable if the covid situation goes out of hands now.”