Gandhinagar: The Government of Gujarat today announced its action plan for possibility of third wave of Covid-19 pandemic in the State.

The announcement was made in presence of Chief Minister Rupani, Dy CM Nitin Patel and Chief Secretary Anil Mukim.

In his presentation, Health commissioner Jayprakash Shivhare said:

Against maximum daily cases 14,605 in the second wave, the government will prepare for 25,000 daily cases. Against 1,48,000 maximum active cases in the second wave, the government will prepare for 2,50,000 active cases. Against 1800 covid hospitals in the second wave, the government will make arrangement of 2400 covid hospital in third wave. Oxygen beds will be increased from 61,000 in second wave to 1,10,000 in third wave. ICU beds will be increased from 15,000 to 30,000.

Against 1,75,000 maximum total tests in a day, the planning for third wave is 2,50,000 maximum total tests in a day. Maximum RT-PCR will be up from 70,000 to 12,35,000. Number of RTPCR labs will be increased from 104 to 155. RTPCE machines will be increased from 234 to 285. Similarly CT Scan facilities will be increased from 18 to 44.

For pediatric covid care there are 2,000 beds in government setup which will be increased to 4,000. Child friendly wards with facilities of parents and guardians will be created. Children friendly wards will have painted walls and cartoons, toys, games, puzzles, comics, books and TV with cartoon channel. The number of pediatric ventilators will be increased to 1,000. Staffers will go through capacity building programme for pediatric care.

The government will rope in additional doctors and nurses. The government will make standby arrangement of ready to go hospitals. A command and control system will be in place along with centralized information system for availability of beds (dashboard).

The Government has planned to deploy early forecasting method , increase surveillance and testing , augment oxygen supply through PSAs and PSUs, keep strategic stock of medicines and drugs and procure additional ventilators including pediatric ventilators.

Probable third wave and its intensity will depend on – vaccination coverage, compliance to covid appropriate behavior, mutations in virus and
covid waves in other parts of the world.

There will be color coding guide for the activities allowed and restrictions imposed.

Speaking in press conference, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the State is preparing for 1800 metric ton oxygen capacity for third wave which as per the experts may come in October-November this year. The State has therefore three months for all preparations for action plan. He said the government has prepared a time-line as per which preparations will made time-to-time as per the number of cases.

Official note:

Gandhinagar, Monday: Chief Minister Vijay Rupani here today said that Gujarat Government is fully ready with detailed Action Plan to firmly and effectively deal with likely third wave of novel coronavirus Covid-19 with the mantra of ‘Harshe Corona; Jitshe Gujarat’.

He announced the plan to the media in presence of Deputy Chief Minister Nitinbhai Patel, Chief Secretary Anil Mukim, Chief Minister’s Chief Principal Secretary K. Kailashnathan and Additional Chief Secretary for Health Manoj Das.

Mr. Rupani said the State Government had greatly succeeded in controlling the first and second waves of the pandemic with the time-tested 3Ts – Testing, Tracing and Treatment – with the help of frontline healthcare workers and other staff in cooperation with the people by observing protocols during lockdown.

Unlike many states, he said that Gujarat clamped limited lockdown in only 36 towns because of people followed guidelines and one can see fall in the number of cases.

The state used to register daily around 1,600 cases around September 25, 2020 which increased to maximum 1,800-1,900 cases around November 25, 2020. This came down to 200-275 around February 2021 due to intensive control measures. This number shot to maximum 14,605 in a day on April 30, 2021 with 1.48-lakh active cases on record that day. But it has come down again to less than 500 daily owing to stricter measure undertaken, but there is utmost need to observe Covid-19 protocols as is repeatedly alerted by Prime Minister.

While the global and national experts warn all to be likely recurrence of third wave, he said that Gujarat can proudly announce to be the first state in the country to prepare such Action Plan to meet third wave, in the last second week of May itself.

Mr. Rupani said the Action Plan for the third wave has been prepared under the guidance of the high-level State Core Committee after thorough consultation with experts and doctors in government hospitals, district collectors, district development officers, municipal commissioners. The objective is to reduce the intensity of likely third wave to the minimum, augmenting the complete healthcare infrastructure, including human resources.

The salient features of the Action Plan for the state are as follows:

• The number of oxygen beds is being increased from 61,000 to 1,10,000 as the daily average of third wave is expected to be 2.50 lakh cases against 1.4-lakh during second wave,
• The number of ICU beds is being increased from 15,000 to 30,000, the number of ventilators is being increased from 7,000 to 15,000, and the number of Covid facilities up from 1,800 to 2,400.
• The quantum of oxygen is being increased from 1,150 MT to 1,800 MT, PSA plants up from 24 to 400 with their capacity being increased from 20 MT to 300 MT, and oxygen concentrators up from 700 to 10,000.
• Enough medicines are being procured and stocked for third wave, much more than what was required during the second wave.
• The number of specialists is being increased from 2,350 to 4,000, MBBS doctors up from 5,200 to 10,000, nurses up from 12,000 to 22,000, Class-IV staff up from 8,000 to 15,000 and that of attendants up from 4,000 to 10,000.
• The number of surveillance units for 3Ts – testing, tracing and treatment – is being increased from 14,000 to 21,000, and that of surveillance teams up from 21,000 to 60,000.
• The number of daily RTPCR is being raised from 75,000 to 1,25,000, full test up from 1.75-lakh to 2.50-lakh, RTPCR labs up from 104 to 155, number of RTPCR testing machine up from 234 to 285, and Citi scan machine up from 18 to 44.
• Gujarat being the only state which started state-wide genome sequencing since April 17, 2020, is now increasing its capacity to 1,000 samples per month from next month.
• The number of Dhanvantari Rath is being increased from 1,500 to 3,000, increasing number of patients handled up from 1.10-lakh to 2.25-lakh, and number of Sanjivani Rath up from 28,000 to 60,000 with number of patients to be handled up from 28,000 to 60,000.
• The direct monitoring of Covid-19 cases now being controlled by Command-and-Control Centre at Chief Minister’s level will now be extended to district level.
• These centres will be updated real-time to CM Dashboard at the Chief Minister’s residence.
• There will be a nodal officer to keep track of beds available in every hospital in the state.
• Vaccination being the infallible weapon against likely third wave, the target is to vaccinate maximum number of people by September 2021.
• So far two-crore people have been vaccinated at 1,200 centres in the state as it tops in the country in number of people vaccinated per million
• Over 54 per cent people in above-45 age group and 12 per cent people in 18-44 age group have been given first shot.
• In view of children likely to be hit during the third wave, the number of beds in paediatric wards of government hospitals is being increased from 2,000 to 4,000 – more child-friendly wards with toys, cartoons and TV with space for parents. The number of ventilators for children is increased from 500 to 1,000.
• The control on educational institutions, air-road transport services, shopping malls, shops, public places – with green, blue, yellow, brown and red colours – will be clamped or relaxed on case-to-case basis as per number of cases, positivity, availability of beds in hospitals.
• The 15,000 Community Covid Centres and Community Covid Isolation Centres already started under ‘Maru Gram, Corona-Mukt Gram’ campaign in villages will continue to function.
• An Epidemic Intelligence Unit will be set in collaboration with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to plan in advance the estimates.
• Telemedicine facility is being set up to guide patients in home isolation by retired doctors through e-Sanjivani App.

The Chief Minister said the Action Plan has a provision to handle double the cases in the third wave than that registered during the second wave, if needed, with more intensive medical treatment.

He appealed to the people to must get vaccinated as safeguard against the third wave, and continue to maintain social distancing, wear mask, use sanitiser and to follow corona guidelines.

DeshGujarat