VIJAYAWADA: In its fight against COVID-19, Andhra Pradesh on Thursday achieved the highest recovery rate of 95.13 per cent.
The 3T strategy adopted by the government from the beginning has enabled the State to achieve the top position in the COVID recovery rate, Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar told TNIE. "We are confident that the 3T strategy of Tracing-Testing-Treating will be the most effective to improve the COVID recovery rate and so from the Day One, we have followed it. The fruits of which can be seen clearly now," he said.
Increased number of tests done per day has helped identify positive cases at an early stage or "at a time when the person was not that serious".
This further gave the doctors more time to treat the patients. "In the initial stages when we were not in a position to conduct more tests daily, the doctors used to get barely two to three or maximum four days time to treat the patients.
Also, by the time the patient used to be admitted, his or her condition would get deteriorated. But now the doctors are getting at least a week’s time to treat even those who are not serious or asymptomatic," he said.
As on Thursday, Andhra Pradesh has conducted 73,47,776 tests at the rate of 1,37,599 tests per million. The State continues to be on top of the table in tests per million for the sixth consecutive month. While the positivity rate is 10.85 per cent, the mortality rate is 0.82 per cent, which is almost half of the national mortality rate of 1.51 per cent.
Andhra Pradesh is followed by Bihar and Punjab with 94.22 and 93.18 per cent of recovery rate. Plasma therapy and sero surveillance are the other factors which he mentioned useful in achieving the highest recovery rate.
"Though Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is now planning to exclude the plasma therapy from the course of treatment for coronavirus, it has certainly helped in treating COVID patients, which resulted in rise in the recovery rate. Whatever decision ICMR takes will surely be followed henceforth. However, the plasma therapy till date has helped Andhra Pradesh gain 95 per cent and above recovery rate," opined Bhaskar.
Sero surveillance has indirectly helped in the process of tracing and identifying the suspects. "Through sero survey we could identify vulnerable areas where chances of positive persons might be high. This helped us decide in which areas the testing should be increased," he explained.
He also said that another reason, which is universal in nature is the age group of those who tested positive. "Majority of patients are from the age group of 16 to 45 years, which means comparatively a younger age group. This factor also can be attributed to the achievement of highest recovery rate," the Health Commissioner added.
10-day campaign to curb COVID spread in State launched
VIJAYAWADA: The State government has launched a 10-day special awareness drive to ensure that every individual follows all safety precautions to keep COVID-19 at bay.
Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday directed officials to focus on effective implementation of the drive in the State and educate people on precautions need to be taken to protect themselves from COVID-19.
"We are at a stage where the number of COVID cases is declining, but we cannot be complacent," said Health Commissioner Katamaneni Bhaskar. The COVID awareness drive will be conducted in two phases -- awareness and checking and it will conclude on October 31.