At least one lakh beds and 15,000 ICUs with ventilators are ready to be converted for the use of COVID-19 patients if needed in Gujarat as the state reviewed operational readiness on Tuesday during a mock drill conducted across various health facilities.

Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in some countries, the Centre has asked states and Union Territories to conduct mock drills at all COVID-19 hospitals as part of precautionary measures.

State Health Minister Rushikesh Patel said Gujarat has prepared a comprehensive plan and reviewed the preparedness of the existing health infrastructure in case of any eventuality on the pandemic front.

The government will also launch a fresh drive for administering booster doses after receiving 12 lakh doses of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines for which it has placed a fresh order, the minister told reporters.

Patel reviewed preparations at Gandhinagar civil hospital and said a mock drill was held at health facilities including the community health centres (CHCs), medical colleges and hospitals, and district and sub-district hospitals across Gujarat where health infrastructure has been created to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Today, we have one lakh and five thousand beds which can be converted immediately (for the use of COVID-19 patients). Then we have 15,000 ventilators and as many ICUs available with us. If we need a new arrangement after exhausting the available arrangements, we will create it as per the requirement," Patel said.

He said the state had stopped ordering COVID-19 vaccine doses after people lost enthusiasm to take a booster dose. The state has once again placed an order for 12 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin from the Centre and will launch a fresh drive for the precautionary dose.

"A mock drill was carried out to make sure that the infrastructure set up to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic is fully operational. It is meant to understand whether the facilities provided are functioning properly or are facing difficulties," Patel added.

Mock drills were held in all such places where infrastructure facilities were set up such as CHCs, district and sub-district hospitals, and medical colleges, he said.

As per the Central advisory, the mock drill exercise is to focus on parameters such as the availability of health facilities (covering all districts), the capacity of isolation beds, oxygen-supported beds, ICU beds and ventilator-supported beds, optimal availability of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other frontline workers etc.

Gujarat on Monday reported seven fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the number of active cases to 40, the state health department said.

The state has so far reported 12,77,548 cases, 12,66,465 recoveries and 11,043 deaths, it said.

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