Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan suggests beds update online at Vijayawada

Vijayawada: Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan advised state government officials to provide an online information system that provides data on availability of beds in various Covid-19 hospitals to those in need.

He addressed a review meeting on Covid-19 situation in the state with chief secretary Nilam Sawhney, special chief secretary K S Jawahar Reddy and other officials through video conference from Raj Bhavan here on Tuesday.

Appreciating the untiring efforts of doctors, paramedical staff, sanitation workers and other frontline warriors in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, the Governor expressed concern over the steep hike in number of positive cases at an alarming rate of 12 to 13 per cent, after the unlock period and made a particular mention of the top five districts where more number of cases are being reported.

He enquired about the steps being taken to contain the spread of the virus in these five districts. The efforts of the administration for conducting more number of tests per million population by ramping up test facilities through mobile testing vans was widely appreciated, he said.

Chief secretary Nilam Sawhney said the reason for the surge in number of Covid-19 positive cases is due to movement of people from neighbouring states after the unlock was announced.

Exuding confidence that it is expected to come down by end of July, she said that sufficient number of beds is available to cope up with the rise in number of positive cases.

Special chief secretary K S Jawahar Reddy said all efforts were being made to bring down the number of positive cases to five per cent and in any case not exceeding 10 per cent and mortality rate to less than one per cent. He said to ensure this the state government has put in place the process of testing, tracing, tracking, isolation and treatment on a large scale.

"The functioning of the testing labs is being streamlined to ensure that the result is given out within 24 hours. People can make a call to 104 and ask for undergoing test and also seek admission of Covid-19 positive patients. The state government is procuring 3.25 lakh rapid antigen test kits which can give out result within 15-20 minutes and testing will also be ramped up to 35,000-40,000 per day. The government has now made it compulsory for everyone to wear a mask in public. The government has appointed 2700 doctors and paramedical staff by holding a special Covid-19 recruitment drive," he said.

Secretary to Governor Mukesh Kumar Meena, commissioner of health & family welfare K. Bhaskar and other officials of the government also participated in the video conference.