VIJAYAWADA: Night curfew in the State has been reduced by one hour. It will be in force from 11 pm to 6 am instead of 10 pm to 6 am till August 21. A decision to this effect was taken at a review meeting on Covid-19 held by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday.
Organisers of marriages with muhurtham in the early hours of the day, need to take prior permission from the authorities concerned in view of night curfew. The number of guests for weddings and other private functions is limited to 150.
The Chief Minister directed officials to effectively monitor the implementation of Covid protocols in the State and initiate action against violators to contain the spread of the virus. All Standard Operating Procedures for functioning of schools should be strictly implemented to ensure the safety of students, he said.
Covid positivity rate under 3% in 10 dists, CM told
People should strictly adhere to Covid Appropriate Behaviour like wearing of masks and maintaining physical distance at public places. Covid tests should be conducted randomly in schools as a precautionary measure, Jagan said. Reviewing steps being taken to face the possible third wave of Covid in the State, he instructed the officials to take village/ward secretariat as a unit for administration of vaccine to priority groups.
The officials informed him that the active caseload in the State is 17,218 with a positivity rate of 1.94%. The positivity rate is less than 3% in 10 districts, while it is between 3 and 6% in the remaining three districts of the State. The recovery rate has increased to 98.45%. In all, 93.98% of Covid patients are undergoing treatment in network hospitals under Aarogyasri, they said.
As many as 20,464 oxygen concentrators and 27,311 D-type oxygen cylinders are ready. Oxygen plants will be set up at 104 places across the State by the end of August. Another 36 oxygen plants will come up by the second week of September. With regard to vaccination, a total of 1,82,00,284 people have been administered Covid vaccine in the State till now.
As many as 1,15,98,720 people have been administered single dose, while 66,01,563 have got two doses. A total of 2,48,01,847 vaccine doses have been used in the State so far, they explained. The officials also informed the CM that a Computer Aided Selection of Inspection website was developed for effective drug control and administration. It will help maintain quality standards in administration of drugs as everyone from manufacturer to retailer will come under its purview. Complaints will be received on phone, WhatsApp and through e-mail and they will be look into promptly.
Another website ‘Preventive action through drug surveillance’ was also developed to check adulteration of drugs. Everyone from manufacturer to retailer will be tracked through the system. Another website was also developed for drug dealers so that they can be tracked easily to avoid any shortage, the officials said.
Jagan directed them to inspect government hospitals and ensure that all life saving drugs are available and GMP standards are maintained.
On child health, the officials said pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) will be administered to children against pneumonia. With this, the number of vaccines being given to children in the State will go up to 10. Jagan asked the officials to utilise village/ward secretariats to administer vaccines to children till village and urban clinics are ready. Deputy CM (Health) Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas, Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das, Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal, DGP Gautam Sawang and others officials attended the meeting.