State prepares for possible Covid outbreak in Manipur

Last Updated on February 17, 2023 by SPN Editor

Manipur has adequate medical essentials and is well prepared to deal with the Covid outbreak in Manipur, state health Director Dr. Sasheekumar Mangang said on Tuesday. The public should not panic, he said. “BF.7, the new type that is spreading in many other countries is not new in India as it was already detected in June in Gujarat and the similar type BF.1 in Odisha. However, it was not detected in Manipur till now,” said Dr. Sasheekumar.

While talking to the media at his office at the Directorate of Health in Imphal West, Sasheekumar said that a state mock drill was conducted on Tuesday as a preparation to meet any eventualities of any possible covid outbreak in Manipur, as per the instructions of the Union Health Ministry.

Explaining the current situation of urgent medical needs in the state, he said that the state has enough oxygen supply and cylinders, although some PSA plants have faced some small malfunctions.

Informing that the state has dedicated 148 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds and more than 500 beds with oxygen supply for Covid, he said it is believed that there will be no rush for beds in case of a covid outbreak in Manipur.

Only 20 percent of Covid patients were hospitalized in the past, but the rate of hospitalization among Covid patients has decreased, he said, adding that the state government could increase the number of general beds and ICU and operate the Covid hospital at Kiyamgei in Imphal East which is now used as a maternity and child hospital, in case of emergency. The number of government ambulances in the first wave of the Covid outbreak in Manipur was only 20 and now it has reached 92, he said. The ambulances have been distributed across 16 districts. Also, there are many private ambulances, so the ambulance service will not be a problem, he added.

Regarding the vaccination period among the public where only 62.8 percent of eligible people received the first dose, 53 percent the second and 30 percent received the booster dose, he said that the state government wants to promote the vaccination campaign. A sufficient quantity of vaccine has been requested for supply to the Center to fight the Covid outbreak in Manipur, he said.

Speaking about the testing process, the director assured that the tests will not take as long as before, since almost all districts have the facilities of RT-PCR and TrueNat, in addition, there are 1,50,000 testing kits for RAT.

Regarding the instructions to test foreign visitors or returnees according to the guidelines of the Center, he said that as per the guidelines, two out of every 100 foreign visitors or returnees should be tested. So, there is no testing done if the foreign visitors or returnee is less than 50.

The test can be done if the airlines have informed the government, he said, adding that the state government has reserved two beds for returnees or foreign visitors, in case of emergency. Stating that Manipur has not recorded a case of Covid in the last two weeks, he said the necessary advisory will be issued to the people soon to prevent any covid outbreak in Manipur.