SIRCILLA: Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao on Monday said that though COVID-19 is not sparing anyone, there is no need to worry too much as the fatality rate is just one per cent.
Speaking after inaugurating a COVID-19 ward at the Government Hospital and some ambulances here, the Minister spoke about how even the rich and powerful are contracting the virus. "The virus has not spared even the Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, BS Yedyurappa and Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The virus has no bias. It is infecting everyone but there is no need to panic as the mortality rate is very low, just one per cent," Rama Rao said.
However, he cautioned people against being lax in taking precautions against the infection. "You will have to be very careful for a few more months. You cannot escape from the fact that we have to live with the virus and this will go on for some more time. While doing so, we should not lower the guard at any time and expose ourselves to the virus," the Minister said.
Rama Rao said that if anyone develops COVID-19 symptoms, he should go for a test and if found positive, take treatment until he/she is cured. "It is completely curable and once one recovers, one could save the lives of the others too by donating blood plasma," he said.
He called upon the TRS leaders who won their battle against COVID-19 to come forward, donate their plasma and be life-savers. He also urged people not to treat the COVID-hit as pariahs but help them.
The Minister said the government, on its part, was taking all measures to arrest the spread of the virus. "To this hospital here, five ambulances have been handed over and a sum of Rs 2.28 crore will be sanctioned on Tuesday," he said.
While advising doctors to increase the number of tests to 1,000 per day, he said that the 32-bed isolation ward set up at the Agriculture College and the government-built double bedroom houses at Mandepalli will be used as isolation centres.
Based on the requirement, ventilators would be supplied to hospitals and the wages of the sanitation staff would be hiked. To overcome shortage of doctors, the government is now ready to pay higher wages to medical graduates if they serve at the government hospitals.
As there is no medicine for COVID-19, the only way to deal with it is to break the chain of its spread by following healthy practices, Rama Rao said.