Five districts in Rajasthan are speeding towards full recovery from the COVID-19 infection, having crossed 90% recuperation rate, while 11 districts have registered a recovery rate of more than 80%. The betterment of health infrastructure in the State has led to the recoveries crossing the 50,000 mark earlier this week.
Medical & Health Minister Raghu Sharma said here on Friday that aggressive testing and containment strategies for specific areas had helped the State fight the pandemic, while a special screening campaign had been launched for vulnerable groups, including the people with comorbidities, to prevent deaths.
The issue of COVID-19 management and economic impact of the lockdown came up for a debate in the State Assembly on Friday. The House was adjourned thrice amid an uproar over the Opposition BJP’s charges of negligence and heated arguments with the treasury members. The proceedings were later adjourned to Monday.
Mr. Sharma said the State’s benchmarks in handling the health crisis included the well-planned Bhilwara model, Bikaner’s three-layer containment strategy and other intensified models. The five districts speeding towards full recovery were Churu (90.2%), Jalore (96.3%), Jhunjhunu (91.4%), Pali (91.2%) and Sirohi (90.6%).
‘First to impose curbs’
“Rajasthan was the first State to impose lockdown, while the strictness adopted in the beginning helped contain the spread of virus. The teams of paramedical staff have reached almost all areas in the State for conducting health surveys,” Mr. Sharma said. The State government has completed 20 lakh COVID-19 tests, while the mortality rate has reduced to 1.3%.
Akhil Arora, Principal Secretary (Medical & Health), said the spike in the number of positive cases was the result of aggressive testing, as the State had achieved the RT-PCR testing capacity of 45,000 per day.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met the experts here on Wednesday to deliberate on the adherence to health protocol during the pandemic. The experts pointed out that high-flow oxygen for treatment of infection was being arranged in all medical colleges and critical care had been strengthened in the hospitals where serious patients were brought.
