There needed to be a balance between protecting lives and livelihood and economic lockdown was not a solution, said Beela Rajesh, District Monitoring Officer for COVID-19 management, and Secretary, Commercial Taxes and Registration, here on Thursday.
On the sidelines of a review meeting on COVID-19 management, Ms. Rajesh spoke about the rising cases in the district and the need to push awareness as a ‘people’s movement’. “This involves physical distancing, masks, handwash, home quarantine, and caution with regard to people with co-morbidities. There is a great deal of information compared to the first wave, and preparation including use of oximeters at home to monitor, and early admissions will help prevent morbidities,” she said.
According to her, early detection, hospital admissions of those with co-morbidities, and protection from an infection would help contain the spread.
There were 773 active cases in the district, and of these, 191 patients were hospitalised. Among those, 53 persons were under oxygen support, Ms. Rajesh said.
As of date, there were enough oxygen-supported beds in the hospitals in the district. There were 724 beds at present, and the capacity to add an additional 1,341 beds. A total of 1,13,055 persons had been vaccinated in the district and 9,180 doses of vaccines were available, which may further be increased as and when the need arose, Ms. Rajesh said.
The focus was currently on the vaccination of those above 45 years of age. The district had vaccine covered 83% of the frontline workers and the remaining were pregnant women and lactating mothers, Ms. Rajesh said.
According to Collector V. Jayachandra Bhanu Reddy, even as the district shared borders with two States, there was no bar on vehicles entering from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. “As per the State guidelines, vehicles from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Puducherry do not require e-pass and that remains.”
The vehicles were being vetted and passengers randomly thermal scanned.