The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) has turned the Barabati and the Nehru indoor stadium into COVID centres after witnessing the highest single-day spike of 54 cases on Wednesday. The administration was forced to come up with new COVID centres as infections continue to rise.
This is the first time that the state has converted a stadium into a COVID care centre. A team of officials, along with CMC commissioner Ananya Das, visited the stadiums to take a measure of the situation.
“Initially, we are planning to set up a 100-bed centre on the Barabati Stadium premises. As of now, 75 beds have been installed in the air-conditioned corporate boxes at the stadium. The areas have been sanitized and well equipped with washrooms”, Das said.
The Nehru stadium will be able to accommodate 150 beds, and installation work is going on in full swing, she added.
Each centre would have four doctors and at least 30 paramedics to look after the patients.
“Low-risk asymptomatic patients with no underlying health conditions will be admitted in these COVID care centres. Doctors and nurses will be there to take care of the patients round-the-clock”, Das said.
In addition to the Barabati and Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, three more COVID care centres will be opened in L&T Gopalpur (107 beds), Odisha State Housing Board, Bidyadharpur (98 beds), and another one in the premises of Odisha Administrative Tribunal (220 beds).
In the last 24 hours, the city of Cuttack has reported 54 new cases, pushing the total count to 452. With eight deaths and 225 recoveries, the city now has 219 active cases.