Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy dwelling on the measures initiated by the government to contain Covid-19 stated that they had conducted an overwhelming 25 lakh Corona tests till date.
Participating in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video conference with Chief Ministers on Tuesday, Jagan Mohan Reddy sought the cooperation of the Union Government in its efforts to boost medical facilities in the State. He pointed out that unlike the neighbouring states, Andhra Pradesh neither had any metropolitan areas nor did it boast of hospitals with huge infrastructure. This could be improved substantially if the Centre extends assistance, he said.
The Chief Minister assured to keep the Covid mortality rate low with aggressive testing, contact tracing besides timely treatment, particularly if the Centre helps in ramping up medical infrastructure.
He explained, "The State could maintain a low-mortality rate of 0.89 percent as we have been adopting the strategy of aggressive testing in containment clusters, identifying positive cases and providing instant treatment besides removing the social stigma attached to patients. We are spreading awareness with the involvement of over two lakh people in various capacities."
Jagan Mohan Reddy said, "So far we have conducted 25, 34, 304 tests of which 2.35 lakh were positive. Tests per million in our State have logged 47, 459. When the first case was reported in March, we had no virology lab and had to send the samples to Pune and from that stage we have progressively improved infrastructure and now all the 13 districts have testing labs and hospitals for Covid and they are self-reliant. Together with the Rapid Antigen tests, the number of tests has crossed the 70 000-mark and the average is at 60,000 tests per day. Samples are also being taken through 100 mobile labs in at least 1500 areas and we could penetrate into the remote areas. "
The Chief Minister explaining about treatment said, "After the testing is done, depending on the severity, we have been sending them to home isolation, or to Covid Care Centre or Covid hospitals. We have also increased the strength of ambulance vehicles to 1088 and the vehicle is available at mandal level to ensure that everyone derives advantage of the facility. "
Explaining about the hospitals and beds, he said "The State has 138 Covid Care Hospitals with 37, 189 beds and for people with mild symptoms we have identified 109 Covid Care Centres with a bed capacity of over 56 000. We have increased the bed strength with oxygen facility from 4,286 to over 11,000 in the last three months. About 32,000 medical personnel, including
doctors, nurses, technicians and other staff are working in 138 Covid Care hospitals. We have also started helpdesks to guide the people on how to go about when they notice symptoms."
Jagan Mohan Reddy urged Modi, "As ours is a newly formed State with no Tier I cities, we look forward to your help in ramping up medical infrastructure in Tier II cities."
Deputy Chief Minister Alla Nani, Home Minister M Sucharita, Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, Medical and Health Special Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy were among those who were present.
