Help evacuate Andhra Pradesh youth: CM Jagan to Modi

VIJAYAWADA/KAKINADA/KURNOOL : Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and direct the Indian embassy in China to evacuate the 35 youths from Andhra Pradesh who were trapped in the locked-down city of Wuhan following the outbreak of coronavirus.In a letter to Modi, the Chief Minister said the parents of the trapped youths are worried and want their wards back home at the earliest. “I request you to direct the concerned in Indian embassy in China to evacuate them (trapped employees) to India at the earliest and provide all necessary assistance,’’ he said.

The youths from Visakhapatnam were trapped in Wuhan and they are part of a group of staff of Panel Optodisplay Technology Private Limited (POPTL) who went for training in August 2019. The POPTL selected the 35 students from Vizag during campus placements to work at its upcoming LCD TV unit near Tirupati. Later, they were sent to Wuhan for training. The engineers are among the first list of 316 Indians who were being airlifted by an Indian Airlines flight from Wuhan. 

Kakinada medico who arrived from China tests negative for nCOV

In the wake of alert sounded in the State over the spread of coronavirus, the report of arrival of a medico from China to Kakinada spread panic in the town on Saturday. The district medical and health officials swung into action and conducted tests on the medico and confirmed that he was not carrying coronavirus. The medico hailing from Majestic Street in the city returned home on January 26 after applying leave following the outbreak of coronavirus there. Rumours spread thick and fast that the medico was carrying coronavirus and quarantined, prompting the medical and health officials to rush to his house. Social media was abuzz with reports that at least 10 persons from Kakinada were admitted to government hospital for treatment of coronavirus. 

DM&HO Dr Satya Susheela said that the medico was not having any health problem after his arrival in the country. He was asked not to move out for 28 days.  Kakinada Government General Hospital Superintendent Dr M Raghavendra Rao also clarified that no patient with coronavirus was admitted to the GGH. Allaying the fears, he said that coronavirus cannot be active in hot climate and appealed to the people not to panic about the spread of virus.

A day after TNIE reports about the fear of parents of those children studying in China and hailing from Kurnool, the government has directed the district medical and health authorities to visit the houses of students. According to an estimate,  at least 100 students are pursuing higher education especially medicine in China from Kurnool. District nodal officer Dr C Sreedevi told TNIE that they are focusing on students who came to India before January 15. Officials are gathering information about those who arrived from China and once they will be narrowed down, they are going to conduct tests on those who returned from China and also on their family members. 

“We will ask the families of those who returned from China to set up an isolated room in their house depending on the necessity for keeping their children isolated,” she said. The nodal officer further said presently they are setting up separate wards at government hospitals in Kurnool, Nandyal, Adoni, Yemmiganur and Banaganapalle in the district. 

She appealed to the students and family members to approach the doctors and give self report about their health condition. Kurnool Government General Hospital Superintendent Dr GS Ram Prasad said they created a special unit to give medical treatment for those get admitted to the GGH with symptoms of coronavirus. The special unit includes three professors, three senior nurses, three medical students and three ward boys along with required equipment. All the necessary equipment was installed in the coronavirus isolation ward in the hospital, he said. He was quick to add that till today no case of those with symptoms of the virus came for treatment.

Nodal officers and their contact numbers
Srikakulam - Dr B Jagannadha Rao  9963994337
Vizianagaram - Dr M Chamanti 9492024155
Visakhapatnam - Dr M Pardhasaradhi 7382555264
East Godavari - Dr M Mallikarjun 9392133322
West Godavari - Dr K Suresh Babu 9440771232
Krishna -  Dr Amrutam 9491647614
Guntur - Dr P Ratna Valli 8309176892
Nellore - Dr R Swarna Latha  9440294507
Chittoor - Dr Sudarshan 8790995129
Kadapa - Dr K Kondaiah 9848399496
Anantapur - Dr C Padmavathi  9849902398
Kurnool - Dr C Sreedevi 9849902411