Leaders of various NGOs called upon people to take adequate precautions to check the spread of COVID-19, and not to believe rumours at an awareness programme, organised at the Gandhi statue near GVMC, here, on Monday.
An awareness pamphlet on ‘COVID-19’, brought out jointly by Praja Arogya Vedika (PAV), Jana Vignana Vedika (JVV) and Praja Arogya Parirakshana Committee and All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), was released on the occasion.
They said that the number of COVID-19 cases in India was rising slowly but steadily, and the Union and the State governments should come up with strong measures to check its spread. Isolation wards should not be limited to hospitals at the district headquarters but be set up at the PHC-level. They also sought allocation of special budget, setting up of more testing labs, making drugs available and improvement of basic health infrastructure to control the spread of COVID-19.
They also demanded action against those spreading falsehood on COVID-19 through social media. The government should allocate budget for research on developing a vaccine for the virus.
The volunteers distributed pamphlets to bus passengers at RTC Complex and to passers-by at Asilametta and nearby areas.
PAV general secretary T. Kameswara Rao said that pamphlets would be distributed in all mandals and panchyats in the district to spread the message to the interior areas. They would be distributed to those visiting the King George Hospital (KGH) and at Anakapalle on Tuesday.
PAV representatives Y.L. Narasinga Rao, P. Rama Rao and M. Srikanth, AIDWA representative Dakshayani, Ch. Murty of JVV, KVP Chandramouli of PPC and K. Santosh Kumar and IK Seshu Kumar of Medical Reps Unions were among those who participated.