Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday directed District Collectors to be alert to tackle the possible third wave of COVID and said they should be ready with a district-wise action plan by the end of August. He called for increasing the infrastructure facilities, biomedical equipment and oxygen beds as per the requirement and added to complete paediatric care training to staff nurses.
Reiterating that vaccination was the only method to combat COVID, Mr. Jagan said during the weekly grievance programme, Spandana, that the country had been manufacturing fewer doses of vaccine than the requirement and the State government had been vaccinating people as per the allocations made by the Union government.
The first dose of vaccine was administered to 1.53 crore people of the required seven crore doses and added that the vaccine was administered to 75.89% of people above 45 years of age and it needed to reach 90% and then the vaccine should be administered to other priority sectors. He said priority should be given to teachers, pregnant women and students. He told the officials to pay special attention to vaccination of teachers as the schools were being reopened.
Positivity rate
On the positive note, the impact of COVID had been decreasing gradually and the positivity rate had been reduced to 2.82% from a peak of 25% during the second wave during April-June 2021. The Chief Minister discussed with District Collectors and SPs a wide range of issues.
Lauding the role of village secretariat staff, volunteers, ASHA workers, doctors, ANMs and District Collectors in containing COVID, Mr. Jagan said that door-to-door fever survey was conducted 13 times and the people with symptoms were identified, tested and provided treatment. He congratulated them for putting in efforts to decrease the mortality rate and containing the spread of the virus.
The Chief Minister said focussed testing should be done through RTPCR tests by identifying people with symptoms and added that tests should be conducted to whoever asks for it. He said 104 services should be utilised effectively, fever surveys conducted regularly, masks and social distancing should be followed strictly. In view of the decreasing caseload, the number of hospitals and COVID Care Centres should be maintained, he said and added that COVID treatment was being provided at 302 hospitals and 123 COVID Care Centres at present.
