Kurnool has a total of 109 ventilators in place to deal with COVID-19, said District Collector G. Veerapandian. Of the 109, 90 belong to private hospitals and 19 are from the Government General Hospital (GGH).
Addressing mediapersons here, the Collector said that isolation facilities are coming up in all the 14 constituencies of the district, in addition to expanding the existing isolation ward at the GGH.
“So far isolation wards have been allotted to 12 constituencies. We are also converting a hostel in the Rayalaseema University for establishing a 225-bed isolation facility,”he said, adding that non-essential wards of GGH, such as ENT ward, would also be converted into isolation wards.
Mr. Veerapandian iterated that so far no one has been tested positive. “We have tested six people so far, and all of them were negative. Three more are awaiting tests.”
“Two persons from Kasi and one from Rajasthan have been identified and admitted into the GGH. We have taken their samples and sent it to Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS) for testing,” Mr. Veerapandian said.
The Collector said out of the 403 foreign returnees in the district, 83 have completed their 28-day quarantine. “The rest of them are currently either observing home quarantine or are in hospitals,” he added.
The government has recently sent a new list of 605 foreign returnees, and we are currently under the process of doing door-to-door survey, Mr. Veerapandian said, adding that ASHA workers, ANMs or VROs would undertake the job.
An official has been assigned for every ten foreign returnees to interview them on phone. “The Mandal Development Officer, Tehsildar or Municipal authorities would be conducting the interview,” he added.
Meanwhile, 120 autorickshaws were seized for plying after Section 144 was imposed. Mr. Veerpandian warned of strict action against those who do not follow the rules.
