Uttarakhand CM's residence being prepared for treating COVID patients in possible 3rd wave

As India continues to reel under the pandemic, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat on Thursday said that he is preparing his official residence for the treatment of Coronavirus patients during the third wave. Remarking that there is no lack of preparedness to tackle the third wave, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister said that there are more COVID-19 dedicated hospitals now. 

Tirath Singh Rawat said, "Two 500-bed hospitals each were deployed with the help of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Rishikesh and Haldwani in addition to the existing ones."

Uttarakhand CM to convert his residence into COVID-19 ward

Informing that the district magistrates (DMs) have been asked to keep one or two hotels ready to be converted into COVID care centres if the need arises, Rawat said, "We will do anything to deal effectively with the third wave." Remarking that no one had imagined that the second wave of the pandemic would be so strong, he said, "But we rose to the challenge and ramped up facilities across the state."

The Uttarakhand CM said that he had gone to COVID care centres and hospitals in all 13 districts of the state to examine the status of facilities and learn about the problems faced by patients. He said that the Uttarakhand High Court on Wednesday reprimanded the state government for its alleged lack of preparedness in view of the possible third wave of the pandemic. 

COVID-19 situation in Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand has so far reported over 3,39,127 positive cases, out of which, 3,29,182 have successfully recovered and 7,068 deaths have been reported. As per the latest reports from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 149 new cases, 152 fresh recoveries and 16 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in the state is 2,877. 

(Image: ANI, Pixabay, Twitter- @TirathSRawat)