By PTI
PUNE: With a “sharp decline” in coronavirus positive cases, the Pune Zilla Parishad (ZP) has decided to permanently shut the Wipro Hospital, which was set up for COVID-19 treatment, in Hinjewadi area, an official said.
“In a meeting with the senior management of Wipro, it was decided to permanently shut the hospital at Hinjewadi. The decision was taken since the COVID-19 cases have declined sharply in the district,” said ZP CEO Ayush Prasad.
The building will be returned for IT development and 71 types of equipment installed in the hospital would be given to district hospital, women’s hospital, sub-district hospitals, rural hospitals, primary health care centres and sub centres across rural areas of the district, as per requirements, he said.
“With cases having fallen in Pune rapidly, and beds lying empty in all licensed government and private hospitals, the Wipro hospital was placed under suspended animation from 31 December 2021.
The administration had followed a wait-and-watch approach,” he said.
The shutting of the hospital represents the success of the vaccination programme and the district administration’s ability to build up requisite infrastructure facilities in existing hospitals, he said.
On the suggestion of the state government, Wipro, an IT major, had converted one of its buildings in Hinjewadi, into a COVID-19 hospital in May-June 2020.
During the pandemic, the 450-bed hospital had 6,865 admissions, of which 6,414 people were discharged after the treatment and 11 deaths were recorded.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 2,748 new coronavirus cases, including 111 of the Omicron variant, and 41 fresh fatalities linked to the infection, the health department said.
With this, the state’s caseload reached 78,50,494, while the death toll increased to 1,43,492, the department said.
On Tuesday, the state had recorded 2,831 infections and 35 fatalities.
On Omicron, a department bulletin said, “111 (new) patients with the Omicron infection have been reported in the state. All these patients have been reported by the National Institute of Virology (based in Pune, where swab samples were sent for genome sequencing).”
Of the 111 infections, Ahmednagar reported 21, Navi Mumbai (19), Jalna and Yavatmal (15 each), Aurangabad (10), Nagpur and Mumbai (nine each), Thane Municipal Corporation (6) and Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (three), among others.
Till date, a total of 4,456 patients infected with the highly contagious Omicron variant have been reported in the state.
Of these, 3,334 have been discharged following a negative RT-PCR test.
“Until now, 8,904 samples have been sent for genome sequencing, out of which, results of 7,991 patients have been, received while 913 results are awaited,” the health department said.
The bulletin said 5,806 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries to 76,75,578.
The state, where the coronavirus recovery rate is 97.77 per cent, is now left with 27,445 active cases, it said.
“Currently, 2,79,743 people are in home quarantine and another 1,169 in institutional quarantine,” it said.
Mumbai reported 225 fresh cases and zero fatality for the second straight day, while Pune recorded 376 infections and two deaths.
Of the eight administrative circles in the state, Pune recorded 811 fresh cases, followed by Mumbai (549), Nashik (446), Nagpur (358), Akola (267), Kolhapur (117), Latur (107) and the Aurangabad circle (93).
Each administrative circle consists of multiple districts.
Of the 41 fatalities, Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur and Aurangabad recorded seven each, followed by five in Akola, four in Latur, three in Mumbai and one in Nagpur, the department said.
The bulletin said 1,18,124 coronavirus tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, taking their cumulative count to 7,67,57,238.
Maharashtra COVID-19 figures are as follows: Total cases 78,50,494; fresh cases 2,748; death toll 1,43,492; recoveries 76,75,578; active cases: 27,445; total tests 7,67,57,238.
