VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday decided to relax curfew by three more hours in eight districts, where Covid positivity rate is below five per cent, from July 1 to July 7. In other words, except in Prakasam, Krishna, Chittoor and the twin Godavari districts, the curfew will be relaxed from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
In the above mentioned five districts, however, the curfew will continue to be in force from 6 p.m to 6 a.m. The decision was taken at a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. The situation in the five districts, where the positivity rate continues to be above five per cent, will be reviewed again in July first week.
Following the spurt in Covid cases, the government had initially imposed night curfew from 10 p.m to 5 am. From May 5, the curfew was extended to 18 hours with relaxation from 6 am to 12 noon. Later, the curfew was extended till June 20 with relaxation from 6 am to 2 pm and thereafter, it was further extended till June 30 with relaxation being given from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Health department officials informed the Chief Minister that the overall positivity rate in the State has decreased and as on date, stands at 3.1 per cent, while it was 4.46 just the previous day. Recovery rate has also improved to 96.95 per cent and mortality rate is dropping too. As on date, the active caseload in the State is only 42,252. Among the 15,000 and odd village/ward secretariats, 5,515 do not have a single case of Covid, while 3,110 have reported one case each and 1,891 have reported two cases each.
State has surplus medical O2 and beds, says Jagan
Put another way, 12,545 village/ward secretariats have reported less than five cases each. There is only one village secretariat, which has more than 50 cases, and three secretariats have between 40 and 50. A total of 690 village/ward secretariats have more than 10 cases each. Among 676 mandals in the State, only 105 have more than 10 active cases.
The Chief Minister directed the district administrations to pay special attention to the mandals and village/ward secretariats, where more cases have been reported so that the active caseload can be further reduced. Taking stock of the preparation to face a possible third wave, the Chief Minister emphasised the need to make pediatric telemedical services available round-the-clock through the 104 toll free numbers. Officials briefed him about discussions held thrice with pediatric experts on the measures to be taken to face the third wave.
The officials were directed to enlist 150 pediatricians, trained by the best institutions like the AIIMS, for offering teleservices. The Chief Minister also advised them to involve joint collectors in monitoring 104 services and instructed the JCs to own up the system and strengthen it. He also suggested that extend Covid-type medical services to people suffering from non-Covid ailments and said 104 services should also work as referral points for Aarogyasri like Village Clinics and PHCs. The officials informed the Chief Minister that currently, 7,998 patients were being treated in hospitals and of them, 93.62 per cent were covered under Aarogyasri.
They said 3,329 black fungus cases were registered till date of them, 1,441 are being treated while 1,635 have been discharged. But unfortunately, 253 have dead. The officials said 190 psychiatrists and 16 clinical psychologists were made available to provide counselling to COVID patients as per the ICMR guidelines.
Taking serious note of reports in a section of the media about alleged deaths due to shortage of oxygen at a hospital in Eluru, the Chief Minister wondered how could deaths be attributed to oxygen shortage when the state has surplus medical oxygen and nearly 70 per cent oxygen beds and ventilators are available.
He alleged that the vernacular dailies in question were publishing misleading reports out of jealousy as the State government was being applauded for effectively tackling the Covid pandemic. Officials informed him that legal action will be initiated against the media houses in question. The Chief Minister also criticised a media house for misquoting him. He regretted that the CMO was being devalued by such misleading reports.
‘Dailies publishing misleading reports’
How could deaths be attributed to oxygen shortage when the state has surplus medical oxygen and nearly 70 per cent oxygen beds and ventilators are available, the CM asked. Jagan said the vernacular dailies in question were publishing misleading reports out of jealousy as the State govt was being applauded for effectively tackling the pandemic.