VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh government has changed its strategy of testing Covid-19 patients. Unlike random testing done in the first wave, the administration is now concentrating on focused testing. On the directions of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the administration is also following focused vaccination strategy with priority being given to those with symptoms.
The 104 Call Centre is playing an important role in appropriately guiding the people with regard to Covid testing and hospitalisation apart from medical advice. After reviewing the situation, the Chief Minister also stressed the need to test the primary contacts of Covid patients.
Due to backlogs in the testing, the release of reports was delayed, which saw the number of tests per day between 35,000 and 37,000. For the last three days, the strategy has changed and the number of tests done in a day crossed 60,000 on Sunday.
The reason was attributed to the use of TrueNat machines, which gives results faster than RT-PCR. TrueNat machines are more convenient and economical. However, either the nasal swab or throat swab has to be collected as a sample for the same. The health department is making efforts to upgrade the software for even faster results. These machines will reduce pressure on district hospitals. The state government had already issued orders for appointing technical staff, and also permitted rapid tests for one time to clear the backlogs.
Meanwhile, for adequate supply of Remdesivir the government has appointed nodal and assistant nodal officers for all the 13 districts. The list is circulated among all the hospitals with instructions to place the requirement of the drug with the nodal officer on a daily basis so as to plan the supply chain.
State receives four lakh vaccine doses
More doses of a Covid vaccine arrived in the state. A total of 4 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine arrived from Serum Institute of Pune on Sunday. The state received one lakh doses of the vaccine a day ago. In the last one week there has been a steady supply of vaccines from SII. The state has already placed orders for supply of vaccines, with three manufacturers