Focus shifts to four districts emerging as COVID-19 hotspots in AP

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a review meeting, on Tuesday, where he directed officials to focus on four districts which emerged as the COVID-19 hotspots in AP.  Listing Krishna, Kurnool, Nellore and Guntur districts, the CM asked officials to start conducting more tests and implement containment measures stringently in these areas.

As of Wednesday, the number of cases reported in Kurnool district touched 203 – the highest of all districts in AP. In this regard, the AP State Government is ramping up measures in the hotspots of the state. The Government General Hospital (GGH) in Kurnool has been turned into an exclusive treatment centre for COVID-19 patients. All other patients at GGH would be redirected to other hospitals.

At the meeting attended by top officials including Chief Secretary Neelam Sawhney, Deputy Chief Minister Alla Nani, Special Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Jawahar Reddy and DGP Gautam Sawang, it was stated that distribution of face masks has begun in red and orange zones on priority. The officials stated that the plan is to distribute 16 crore masks made by women’s self-help groups. At present, three masks are being handed out to each citizen, stated the officials. It was also revealed that Visakhapatnam stands first in the state in terms of the number of tests administered to citizens.

With respect to testing, the officials stated that with the help of 225 TrueNAT machines in the state, around 5,022 tests (aside from RDT tests) were conducted on Monday alone. The officials also revealed that there is no dearth for Personal Protection Equipment or N95 masks at present, and requested permission to begin plasma treatment to patients. The officials stated that 7,100 people are currently being taken care of in quarantine facilities across the State. As of Wednesday, a total of 813 active cases were registered in Andhra Pradesh.