COVID-19 positivity rate came down from 12 pc to 8.3 pc in past few weeks: Andhra CM

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday said that COVID-19 infection spread is declining, with the positivity rate coming down to 8.3 per cent from 12 per cent in the last couple of weeks.

As per the official release, the Chief Minister during a video conference with district collectors and superintendents of police as part of the 'Spandana' review said that the number of tests has increased while the number of cases has decreased.

"Reiterating that we have to live with COVID by taking precautionary measures, he instructed authorities to be vigilant and to make the best use of 104 call centre in creating awareness among the public and to also provide information related to the availability of beds, test results, and hospitals," the release said.

The Chief Minister directed the officials to ensure the helpline is working without any interruption and asked the district collectors to monitor the calls handled by the helpline and conduct mock calls.

"The Chief Minister stated that AP is the only state offering COVID treatment under Aarogyasri scheme and ordered the authorities to display the list of COVID hospitals including those empanelled hospitals in the village and ward secretariats. He further directed the officials to ensure standards in all 240 COVID hospitals and monitor if station, staff and infrastructure are in place, proper food is being provided to patients and conduct periodical inspection drives," it said

The State government had recruited 30,000 medical staff and equipped 37,000 beds in hospitals across the State.

Reddy said home isolation kits should be given to every patient who is in home isolation and Asha workers, ANM and PHC doctor must be in contact with them and follow up their treatment.

Speaking about YSR Health Clinics, he instructed the Collectors to speed up the works for setting up the clinics and accelerate the tender process and told the authorities not to delay the works and start the construction work at the earliest.

Talking about the setting up of 16 new medical colleges in the Telangana, Reddy told the officials to expedite the land identification process for the medical colleges at Amalapuram, Madanapalle, Piduguralla, Adoni, Eluru and Pulivendula.

"The officials were also informed to accelerate the process of identifying additional land for expanding the existing medical colleges in Kakinada, Anantapur and Ongole," the release said.

( With inputs from ANI )