Puri: In view of rising COVID-19 infections, Puri district administration has decided to set up a COVID-19 hospital with 150 beds soon, collector Samarth Verma said Wednesday.
The proposed COVID care facility will be professionally managed by SUM Hospital of Bhubaneswar. It has been decided that the hospital will have provision for 40 intensive-care units (ICUs) and four ventilators for better treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Notably, five more servitors of Puri Jagannath temple, who had attended Kumbh Mela, tested positive for COVID-19 April 26.
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Kumbh Mela has posed a big challenge for Puri residents. A total of 127 people have returned from the festival held at Haridwar by April 26. Out of the 127 returnees, 36 are servitors of the Jagannath temple.
With these five servitors, the number of Jagannath temple servitors infected by COVID-19 has increased to 47. Moreover, 34 others who are associated with the temple have also contracted the virus.
PNN