Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that vaccination is the only remedy for COVID-19, but the State government is facing a severe constraint in immunising the vulnerable people due to shortage of vaccine.
The Central government was requested to despatch additional doses to expand the vaccination programme, while taking all possible steps to check the spread of the virus, the Chief Minister said while addressing a video-conference with the District Collectors and Superintendents of Police on COVID-19 management and vaccination on Friday.
The daily production of vaccines in the country stood at seven crore, but the number of doses was about 23 lakh. “Since the Central government has control over the production and supply of vaccines, the State is asking it to replenish the stocks in order to protect the masses from the pandemic,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.
Positivity rate
He said while the positivity rate was 6.03%, the recovery rate stood at 96.19%. The positivity rate climbed to 7.77% between December 2020 and April 2021. The recovery rate at the national level was 88.90%.
Of the cumulative number of 1.55 crore tests done so far, 9.37 lakh turned out to be positive. The infection and positivity rates were alarming in Chittoor, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Krishna, Guntur and Nellore districts, he said.
The Chief Minister said the State could not afford to impose lockdown again due to its devastating impact on the economy.
He called for emphasis on focussed testing (checking if the primary contacts of infected persons contracted the virus) and voluntary testing to control the pandemic.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy observed that though the positivity rate was high in cities and towns, the number of deaths was more in villages as patients either neglected their condition, or had no easy accessibility to hospitals. This should be kept in view and necessary action taken, he told the officials.
‘Ramp up bed strength’
Asking the Collectors and SPs to keep a close watch on the situation as the second wave was quite serious, the Chief Minister ordered that the number of beds in COVID-19 hospitals be increased to 50,000 so as to handle the rush of patients. He also asked them to ensure that there was no dearth of oxygen.
“If there is no space for patients to be in home isolation, they should be sent to COVID care centres,” he said.
The Chief Minister also wanted that enough stocks of Remdesivir injections and other medicines be maintained in the hospitals. He also directed the officials to take stringent action against the hospitals exploiting the patients.
All the health and frontline workers should be vaccinated with top priority, he said, while cautioning the officials against wasting the vaccines.
Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Health Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas, Minister S. Appalaraju, DGP Gautam Sawang and Principal Secretary (health) A.K. Singhal were among those present.