Is Mysuru, which was a COVID-19 hotspot in the first and second waves, inching closer to become free from the pandemic?
Zero COVID-19 cases and deaths are being reported from Mysuru since the last few days, instilling confidence among the healthcare professionals.
Hospitalisation due to COVID-19 has also come to zero, with 10 out of 11 active cases home isolated. Only one patient is in a government hospital while there are zero cases in private hospitals and COVID-19 care centres.
Barring Mysuru, Hunsur and Periyapatna, other taluks have zero active cases. Out of 11 active cases as on Wednesday, 8 cases are in Mysuru, two in Hunsur and one in Periyapatna.
Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (MMCRI) Dean and Director Dinesh said the cases have almost hit zero and the hospitals, which once were running short of beds for handling COVID-19 patients, are reporting zero admissions of virus cases. “We have kept one ward with six ICU beds and another ward with a few oxygen beds in K.R. Hospital for attending to COVID-19 patients, following a big fall in numbers.”
Dr. Dinesh said only symptomatic patients coming for non-COVID-19 treatment are asked to get tested for COVID-19 for treatment to other ailments. “Unless we see any strong reason to suspect the infection, no patient who needs to be treated for other diseases or has to undergo surgery, is asked to get the RT-PCR negative report. Nevertheless, other precautions are in place, with doctors complying with the protocols that have been practised since the first wave.”
Dr. Dinesh said the hospitals attached to MMCRI, including K.R. Hospital, which was in the forefront of the war against COVID-19, are returning to the pre-COVID-19 situation. “However, the hospitals have categorised the cases as non-COVID-19, COVID-19-like and COVID-19.”
“No serious COVID-19 cases have been reported to the hospital since the past few days. The severity of infection is less. Though I cannot talk about a completely COVID-19 free situation, the situation is almost like pre-COVID-19 days, with the hospitals returning to normal in case of the virus cases,” he replied.
Also, the pressure on the VRDL of MMCRI which worked tirelessly since the first wave testing the swab samples, has been largely eased with declining new cases. Around 1,000-plus samples are being tested now. There was a time when nearly 7,000-8,000 swab samples were used to be collected and tested. The CSIR-CFTRI eased its pressure by setting up a lab on its campus for carrying out the tests but the large chunk of samples was tested in the MMCRI lab.
With almost zero cases daily, doctors can now handle non-COVID-19 cases like they were doing it earlier.
When the fear of a third wave began following the rise in Omicron cases, the healthcare infrastructure in Mysuru city was ramped up, adding more number of oxygenated beds, to fight the pandemic. Even medical oxygen supplies were doubled.
