Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar reported 8000 children catching coronavirus in the month of May. The state has started taking extra measures to minimize the impact of a possible third wave of COVID-19 that may affect children more.
City Sangli in Maharashtra is a COVID-19 ward that is being prepared especially for children for the third wave.
According to reports, currently, five children are being treated for Covid-19 here and the facility is being prepared for more patients.
NDTV quoted corporator Abhijit Bhosale as saying, “We have prepared this Covid ward for kids so that if and when the third wave comes, we are prepared. And kids will not feel they are in a hospital but instead will feel they are in a school or a nursery.”
When the authorities found that at least 8000 children and teenagers tested positive for the coronavirus in Ahmednagar this month that accounting for about 10 per cent of the cases in the district, the authorities were warned for the third wave of Covid-19.
Meanwhile the district ad ministration is reaching out to the paediatricians to make sure that they are prepared for the third wave.
Ahmednagar district chief Rajendra Bhosale said, “In May alone 8,000 kids got positive. This is worrying.”
MLA Sangram Jagtap quoted to NDTV, “During the second wave, there was a shortage of beds and oxygen. So, we need to avoid that during the third wave and hence need to fully prepare ourselves.”
The state government definitely doesn’t want to take any chances for the next wave, though they expect a possible third wave that could hit at the end of July or early August, giving authorities about two months to prepare.
However, Maharashtra was among the first states to be swept by the vicious second wave of COVID-19 in India that emerged in February, overwhelming hospitals and leaving patients and their families struggling to find treatment, medical oxygen and drugs.