Centre Issues SOP for COVID-19 Dedicated Facilities; India’s Toll at 117

As of six in the evening of Tuesday, the number of active coronavirus cases in hospitals has jumped to 4,312 from a total confirmed cases of 4,789, among whom 352 have been cured, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The death toll due to COVID-19, disease caused by the novel coronavirus, has now reached 124 in India. Odisha on Tuesday confirmed the first death due to COVID-19 of a 72-year-old man from Jharpada.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry on Tuesday issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) manual for the selected facilities dedicated for COVID-19. Noting that nearly 70 per cent of cases in India either exhibit “mild or very mild symptoms,” the ministry classified  facilities into three types, ensuring that confirmed cases are not allowed to be mixed.

COVID Care Centres (CCC) which will include makeshift facilities such as hostels, hotels, stadiums among others, are assigned for mild or very mild cases; Dedicated COVID Health Centre (DCHC) are hospitals that will take care of cases that have “clinically assigned as moderate”; while, Dedicated COVID Hospital (DCH) are hospitals that will offer comprehensive care for clinically “severe” cases.

In its daily media briefing on Tuesday, the Health Ministry informed that no decision has yet been taken on the extension of the 21-day lockdown. The remarks by the ministry came after reports started doing rounds in media claiming that the centre is ‘thinking’ over extension.