Crowded relief centres pose grave danger
Extremely severe cyclone Tauktae has diverted the attention and resources of Covid-19-affected districts across Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Goa, Diu and Tamil Nadu, which are already facing shortage of medical supplies from oxygen cylinders to vaccines. As several lakh people have been shifted to relief shelters, there is a greater risk of virus transmission in crowded evacuation shelters. The situation is likely to worsen if any long-term disruption is caused by the cyclone.
Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said Tauktae is close to the Gujarat coast. “The landfall process has started and will continue during next two hours,” the IMD said.
These States are on high alert with transport services suspended and emergency and relief teams on the lookout for possible rescue operations. Tauktae has killed at least 14 people and left a trail of destruction as it brushed past the coastal States of Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.
Virus lockdown measures, meanwhile, could slow relief work after the storm, and damage from the storm such as uprooted electricity poles, disruption in power supplies may further delay the fight against the Covid-19 in affected States.
In Gujarat, vaccination was suspended for two days and authorities worked to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people to temporary relief shelters.
According to authorities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has moved at least 600 patients from Covid centres to Government hospitals. While 243 patients were shifted from BKC facility, 176 were removed from Mulund and 184 from Dahisar centre.
In Gujarat, in the Khambhalia Civil Hospital of Devbhumi-Dwarka district, where 120 Covid-19 patients are on oxygen support, authorities have installed two extra diesel generator sets to deal with power outage. In Bhavnagar, all 35 private Covid-19 hospitals have already been instructed to install generators to run ventilators and other medical devices in case of power failure.
In Jamnagar Civil Hospital, around 45 Covid-19 patients lodged on the eighth and ninth floors of the facility were shifted to lower floors as a precautionary measure. An extra generator set and an oxygen tanker were also kept on standby to deal with any emergency situation, officials said.
In the Union Territory of Diu, the administration has installed a 250 KV power generator at the civil hospital there in case the permanently installed generator fails, Diu health secretary A Muthamma said.
“Of the total 177 patients currently undergoing treatment at the hospital, 60 are on oxygen support. We have also kept two days of buffer stock of oxygen,” she said.
