Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy defended Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s assertion that coronavirus cannot be eliminated and “we have to live with it”, and took a dig at the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) for “spreading lies” and criticising the State government.

“The Chief Minister spoke nothing but facts. Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that it is inevitable that the people have to live with coronavirus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said face masks were going to be part of our lives,” he pointed out at a press conference on Friday.

The TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu, who was staying in the neighbouring State, however, was making baseless allegations against the government and not understanding the ground realities, he said. The TDP leaders who were not helping people in crisis were resorting to mudslinging. They were misleading the people in the difficult times, he alleged.

The Minister said Andhra Pradesh stood first in the country with regard to COVID-19 tests.

Highest tests

While the total population is 5.34 crore, the government had conducted 1,02,460 tests. It amounted to 1,919 tests per million (TPM), which was the highest in the country. Tamil Nadu was placed second with 1,534 TPM followed by Rajasthan (1,344 TPM) Maharashtra (1,086 TPM) and Gujarat (984 TPM), he said.

It would need a lot of dedication to conduct so many tests by pooling machinery, testing facilities, training the technicians etc. While the rate of positive cases in the country was 4.12%, it was 1.4% in Andhra Pradesh. The death rate was 6.88% in the world, while it was 3.17% in India and 2.4% in the State. The rate was low as better facilities were being provided in the State, he said.

“Andhra Pradesh can say proudly that 60 positive cases were reported in the last 24 hours. It is because the government is conducting the highest number of tests and identifying the people suffering from COVID-19,” he said.