Andhra Pradesh lifts night curfew as Covid cases drop

Amaravati, Feb 14 With the number of Covid-19 cases coming down in Andhra Pradesh, the state government on Monday decided to lift the night curfew.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy held a review meeting on the prevailing situation of Covid-19. As the positivity rate and the number of cases have come down, it was decided to lift the night curfew.

During the review meeting, he said that Covid precautions must be taken at all times, especially in the public and commercial spaces, by wearing masks. He directed the authorities to continue the fever survey and told them to conduct tests for those with symptoms. The Chief Minister also stressed the need to achieve 100 percent vaccination.

The officials informed him that only 794 patients are getting treated in hospitals while the total number of active cases in the state has come down to 18,929. The positivity rate has also fallen to 3.29 per cent from 17.07 per cent and there were zero cases in 9,581 village/wards secretariats.

On the vaccination front, the officials said that 3,90,83,148 people have been administered two doses of vaccination, and 39,04,927 were given a single dose. While the target for the precautionary doses is 15,02,841, and so far 11,84,608 people have been vaccinated. They informed that 96.7 per cent of vaccination was completed in the above 45 year age group and similarly 90.07 per cent vaccination was done in people between 18-44 age group. For teens between 15-18 years, 24.41 lakh have been administered with a single dose of vaccine, while 12.48 lakh have received their second dose of vaccine.

Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the authorities to complete the entire recruitments in the Medical and Health Department at the earliest, ensuring that all the hospitals are enabled with proper workforce with zero vacancies. He instructed the officials to separate both administrative and medical responsibilities in hospitals and hand over the administrative work to those having expertise in that field.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister announced special incentives to specialist doctors and doctors working in tribal areas. In this context, the officials stated that 50 per cent of the basic salary can be given as an incentive to specialist doctors and similarly for doctors, 30 per cent of the basic pay can be given as a special incentive.