Make your ICU infection-free: Mamata to pvt nursing homes

Kolkata: In the wake of a spread of Covid cases in some states, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday drew the attention of private nursing homes in order to check the spread of the disease.

Banerjee pointed out that private nursing homes should make their ICU infection-free. She observed that infection often spreads from the ICU of the private nursing homes as they have huge pressure on patients and cleaning is not always properly done. Banerjee urged the people to take precaution but not to trigger panic.

“We all have to take precautions as cases are being reported from countries like the USA and Spain. Kerala is also reporting fresh cases. People can wear masks if they feel like it. There is no restriction yet. People should be a little cautious in the congested area so that infection is not transmitted. Those who are comorbid must wear masks,” Banerjee said. Incidentally, the number of active cases has reached 200-mark in the state.

The experts feel that the number may go up further in the next few weeks. The infection is not causing severe ailments to healthy individuals. It’s a concern for those having comorbidities. The state started reporting frequent Covid cases from the end of December. The infection curve may start going down in Bengal after three weeks.

The figure shot up in Kerala and now it is on the decline. The number of spikes shot to double figures for the first time on December 28 with 14 cases. Before that single cases were being reported before December 28.

The doctors warned that those having multiple comorbidities are likely to get severe infection. The infection is likely to be like cold cough or like any other mild influenza. Apart from the comorbid patients, nobody is generally required to be hospitalised, feel the experts.

With fresh cases of Covid being reported from the city, the state Health department has directed its officials to ensure genome sequencing is performed on the samples collected from the positive patients.

According to a recent report of the state Health department, Covid sub variant JN.1 has not been found in any of the samples which had undergone genome sequencing in National Institute of Biomedical Genomics. Genome sequencing was performed on several samples.