For the third day in a row, the Visakhapatnam district reported more than 800 new COVID-19 cases. In the last 24 hours, the district recorded 810 new infections, taking the cumulative tally to 72,151 as on Friday morning.
The death toll also rose to 578 as three more persons succumbed to the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, according to the COVID-19 bulletin released by Special Officer P.V. Sudhakar.
With the latest cases, the total number of cases and deaths reported in the district is 9,853 and 32 respectively.
The number of active cases also rose to 5,866. As many as 396 persons undergoing treatment for the virus have been recovered in the last 24 hours. This takes the total number of recoveries to 65,707.
Nodal officers appointed
In the wake of increase in the number of infections, District Collector V. Vinay Chand has issued orders appointing nodal officers for all the hospitals treating COVID-19 cases. There are 61 hospitals in four categories both in government and private. He asked the nodal officers to be available at the hospitals in their given timings. He interacted with them in a review meet here on Friday.
Four officers, including Joint Collector R. Govinda Rao, were appointed as nodal officers for Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), while Regional Director, Tourism department, A.V. Ram Prasad, was appointed as officer for CSR Block, KGH. Deputy Director of Groundwater Department N. Malleswara Rao was appointed as nodal officer for Government Hospital for Chest & Communicable Diseases (GHCCD), while Project Officer, MEPMA, Sarojini, was given the charge for Government ENT hospital.
Mr. Vinay Chand said the nodal officers should ensure admission of the patients into the hospitals in a hassle-free manner within 30 minutes. The availability of the beds in the hospitals has to be updated in the designated website / portal in a real-time manner every six hours to get the accurate number. Oxygen availability in the hospital should also be monitored, he added.
“Arranging a help desk with adequate personnel for the aid of the relatives of the patients, monitoring the CCTV footage of the hospitals on a real time basis, ensuring the sanitation measures in the hospitals, monitoring the quality of the food being provided to the patients and medicine availability shall be reviewed and ensured by the officers,” Mr. Vinay Chand stated in the orders.
Meanwhile, the Collector also appointed Special Officers for all the constituencies, including Visakhapatnam East, West, North and South. GVMC officials Samson Raju and Siva Prasad Raju were given the charge for Visakhapatnam East and South respectively. Similarly, Deputy Commissioner GVMC, B.V. Ramana was appointed Special Officer for Visakhapatnam North and GVMC officer Venugopal for Visakhapatnam West. ITDA Project Officer S. Venkateswar was appointed as Special Officer for Paderu.
