Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao has announced that the State government is prepared to conduct COVID-19 tests for any number of people and extend treatment to the affected persons.
Mr. Rao also made it clear that the lockdown would continue in the State in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Union government . The initiative being shown by people’s representatives in implementing lockdown and helping the poor and the cooperation of people should continue, he said.
Chief Minister held a review meeting at Pragati Bhavan here on Wednesday on the measures being taken to curb the spread of COVID-19, help extended to patients, implementation of lockdown, help being extended to the poor, procurement of agricultural produce, Centre’s guidelines etc.
The meeting was attended by Health Minister Etela Rajender, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, DGP Mahender Reddy, Principal Secretary, Finance Ramakrishna Rao and others.
Health Minister Rajender explained to the Chief Minister about the arrangements made for tests to diagnose coronaviris, the treatment being extended and measures being taken for future requirement. At present, 553 patients were undergoing treatment in hospitals for coronavirus infection and among them, eight persons who recovered were discharged on Wednesday and another 128 persons would be discharged on Thursday.
Mr.Rao expressed satisfaction that lockdown was being implemented effectively in the State to control the spread of the disease. People were cooperating very well and requested them to extend the same cooperation in the coming days. The lockdown would continue till April 20 without any change or relaxation and changes might be made later depending on the situation. “So far, 259 containment zones were created in the State based on the number of people affected by coronavirus and were being monitored strictly. Serious efforts are being made to prevent the spread of COVID-19. An adequate number of test kits are ready to conduct tests for any number of people to confirm positive cases,” he said.
On the implementation of lockdown, assistance being extended to poor, procurement of agricultural produce, Mr. Rao said people’ s representatives were monitoring effectively. He appreciated the work of Sarpanches, municipal chairpersons, mayors, councillors, corporators, MLAs and Ministers in this difficult situation and asked them to continue the good work and create awareness among people. The programmes being taken up by the government should reach people. All the Ministers except Health and Municipal Administration and MLAs should remain in their districts and constituencies and monitor the situation, he said. Mr. Rao said the government had taken many steps to ensure that no one suffered from hunger during the lockdown period and announced cash incentives to those who were striving hard and they were being given to those who should get it.
The goverment has credited ₹1,500 into the account of every poor household while programme taken up to distribute 12 kg of rice to each member was almost completed. The special cash incentive to municipal and Gram Panchayat staff and 10% additional wages to medical staff were also paid.
He said that as sanitation work should continue without any interruption in villages and towns, ₹308 crore for Gram Panchayats and ₹148 crore for all corporations and municipalities were released for the month of April.
No shortage of PPEs
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao has emphasised that there was no shortage of Personal Protection Equipment kits in the State. The State now has 2.25 lakh PPE kits and the number would reach 5 lakh in the next few days. An order was placed for another 5 lakh PPE kits. Very soon the State would have 10 lakh PPE kits, he said.
The State also has 3.25 lakh N-5 masks at present and soon the number would increase to 5 lakh and an order was placed for 5 lakh more N-5 masks taking the total to 10 lakh. Required number of ventilators, other medical equipment, doctors, other paramedical personnel , hospital beds were available to meet any requirement, he said. "Government has made arrangements to treat even a lakh patients. The State government is ready to wage a war against Covid-19," the Chief Minister said.