Healthcare workers to get Covid vaccine first: DM&HO M Penchalaiah

Tirupati: Efforts were on to provide Covid vaccine to the healthcare workers soon after the doses are made available at the disposal of the district medical and health department in the next few months. According to the Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, the vaccine will be ready in the next 3-4 months and healthcare workers will first get it.

Following the instructions of the Commissioner of Medical Health and Family Welfare K Bhaskar, the district medical and health department has readied the database of all healthcare workers working in government and private hospitals and teaching hospitals. Explaining the details to The Hans India, DM&HO Dr M Penchalaiah said the regional Covid vaccine storage centre may be set up at Ruia Hospital.

To a question, he said the Covid pandemic curve has been witnessing a gradual dip in the district with almost less than 200 cases being reported daily which is a fall from more than 900 cases during the previous months. The death toll also has come down to around 2 per day from about 10 deaths.

As of now, the district reported 85,244 positive cases with 827 deaths. "The number of cases has certainly come down for now but not reached zero level. The second phase of sero survey conducted by ICMR was completed and the results awaited. By analysing the results, it will be known how many got infected with the deadly virus even without knowing it," he explained. Until then, the exact reasons for the decrease in cases could not be ascertained except to say that there was a downward trend in the state. Significantly, even after the educational institutions are opened, the cases have not gone up. Medical and health staff have covered 4,500 schools to conduct Covid tests on teachers randomly. The DM&HO said that out of 30,000 teachers tested, 275 were positive whereas 77 students are tested positive out of 16,210 tests conducted.

Overall, the situation is returning to normalcy as of now. Currently, there are less than 2,000 active cases. The non-Covid services have been started in all the hospitals. Even the surgeries were commenced in Ruia Hospital. People can avail the services in any of the hospitals. However, there is a pressing need for everyone to wear masks, maintain physical distancing and hand hygiene always, he averred.