Pune remains in focus during pandemic for various reasons By Sandip Kolhatkar

    Pune, Dec 27 (PTI) From earning the dubious
distinction of reporting the first coronavirus positive case
in Maharashtra in March this year to being the headquarter of
one of the country's leading manufacturers of COVID-19
vaccine, Pune has remained at the centre-stage of the
pandemic.
    During the nine difficult months, the pandemic forced
the city, like several other places in India, to witness a
large-scale exodus of migrant workers, indefinite closure of
educational institutes and financial impact on people's lives.
    The district has so far reported over 8,700 deaths due
to the virus. However, during this tough time, people from
different walks of life, including healthcare, administration
and police department, not only experienced the severity of
the pandemic from close quarters, but also took it head-on.
    On March 9, a couple from Pune, who was part of a
group that returned to the city from Dubai, tested COVID-19
positive. They were the first in the state to be found
infected.
    Their daughter and a cab driver, who had ferried the
family from Mumbai to Pune on March 1, also tested positive.
    "Being the first in the state to test positive was a
big shock to us. But at the hospital, we completed our
isolation period along with other patients and returned home,"
the 51-year-old man said.
    "When we came back home, we were given a warm
welcome," he said.
    "Months after our discharge, I volunteered and donated
my plasma. I was very happy to know later that two patients
from the Sassoon General Hospital recovered with the help of
the plasma donated by me," he said.
    "COVID-19 changed our lives drastically. The pandemic
has taught a lesson that we should adopt a a healthy
lifestyle. I hope that in the New Year, we will get a vaccine
and everything will be normal again," he said.
    Although the first COVID-19 patient in the state was
found in Pune, the city also helped the country in tackling
the pandemic as the National Institute of Virology (NIV) here
was the first laboratory to test the samples of people.
    In the initial stage, the NIV not only tested samples,
but also provided guidance and support to the associate labs
in the country. The researchers and scientists, while working
round the clock, had brought down the testing period of the
swab samples to four to five hours from around 12-14 hours.
    Currently, the institute is one of the few designated
laboratories in the country, where genome sequencing of
samples of COVID-19 positive people who had returned from the
UK is being done to check if the strain found in the samples
is similar to the new strain found in the UK.
    During the pandemic, there was a stage when Pune
surpassed Delhi and Mumbai in terms of the district-wise
highest number of cases in the country.
    Dr Deepak Mhaisekar, who was Pune divisional
commissioner then said, "When reports about some COVID-19
cases from Kerala and European countries started coming in, we
did anticipate that it may also hit us. Therefore, we started
preparing Naidu Infectious Disease Hospital for that."
    After the first few COVID-19 cases of foreign travel
history were reported on March 9 in the city, Mhaisekar
recommended to the state government to close down schools and
colleges to curb its spread, even before the national lockdown
came into force.
    "As the lockdown was imposed, we had two major
challenges before us- the implementation of lockdown and
tracing the symptomatic patients and the second one was
related to the exodus of migrant workers.
    "While we were trying to rope in private hospitals to
increase the bed capacity, we had to simultaneously make
arrangements to send migrant workers to their respective
states after special trains started," Mhaisekar, who retired
in July and who currently serves as an advisor to Maharashtra
chief minister on issues related to COVID-19, said.
    From 47 COVID-19 cases till March 31, Pune district's
tally has grown exponentially to 3,60,194 with 8,763 deaths so
far.
    Being a dedicated infectious disease hospital, the
civic run-Naidu Hospital was at the forefront in dealing with
the COVID-19 cases in the initial stage, when other such
facilities were yet to be set up in the city.
    Dr Sudhir Patsute, medical superintendent at the
hospital, is not new to handling epidemics as he was involved
in tackling cases of H1N1 (swine flu) in 2009.
    "Till the time Sassoon General Hospital and other
hospitals were made ready to admit COVID-19 cases, Naidu
Hospital was at the forefront in dealing with the cases in
March. Though understaffed, doctors and nurses at the hospital
were capable of handling such cases," he said.
    He added that the hospital saw several ups and downs
in the last nine months, but the system did not collapse.
    As the number of deaths due to the virus surged in the
district, the authorities stared at a new challenge of
disposing of the bodies.
    However, several individuals and voluntary
organisations lent a helping hand on this front.
    Arun Jangam, a contractual operator at one of the
crematoriums in Pune, along with his family members, helped
cremate over 3,000 bodies at different crematoriums.
    "The flow of dead bodies has now slowed down, but when
I look back, I still get goose-bumps as majority of the last
rites of COVID-19 victims were performed in the absence of
their family members," said Jangam, who is planning to write a
book on his experiences.
    The lockdown-triggered joblessness forced a reverse
migration of thousands from Pune and nearby industrial belts.
    Akshay Kothawale, (30) a rickshaw driver from Pune,
earned praise for his noble gesture as he used the money that
he had saved for his marriage to feed the migrant workers and
those in distress on Pune streets.
    "My conscience asked me to help the people in distress
and I fed around 400 people everyday. Fortunately, monetary
help poured from across the country and it helped me assist
more people for a longer time," Kothawale, who is now planning
to get married soon, said.
    As the world is grappling with the pandemic, all eyes
are now on the vaccine against the virus.
    The city-based Serum Institute of India (SII) is
developing a vaccine named 'Covishield'. It has partnered with
global pharma giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University.
The phase-II clinical trials of Covishield began at different
hospitals and medical colleges in the city in August.
    Earlier this month, the SII applied to the Drugs
Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking emergency use
authorisation of the vaccine in the country.
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the SII last
month to review the progress of the vaccine. PTI SPK
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)