The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to conduct tests on 45,000 high-risk people with health issues in Covid-19 affected areas in order to assess the level of infection in the state.
Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, who held a high-level meeting at his camp office at Tadepalli on Sunday, ordered that Covid-19 tests be conducted on every suspect in the state as part of the ongoing comprehensive family survey in line with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines.
An official spokesman said the health department officials told the chief minister that 1.43 crore people were mapped during the third phase of the intensive family survey, out of the total population of 1.47 crore. During the survey, as many as 32,349 people were referred for medical examination by the field staff.
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The doctors were asked to carry out tests on 9,107 among them. However, the chief minister said the officials should not take any chance during these tough times and ordered that they conduct tests on all the 32,349 members. There should be special focus in the zones where Covid-19 is prevalent, he said.
The chief minister sought details on the clusters, red zone, and hotspot areas in the state. He instructed the officials to prioritize high-risk patients such as senior citizens and those suffering from blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases.
{{/usCountry}}The chief minister sought details on the clusters, red zone, and hotspot areas in the state. He instructed the officials to prioritize high-risk patients such as senior citizens and those suffering from blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases.
{{/usCountry}}“Covid-19 tests should be conducted on 45,000 such people to rule out the possibility of the spread of the disease,” he said.
The government did not say how long it would take to test them but it has the capacity to conduct 2,400 rapid tests per day.
Jagan also instructed that the officials immediately provide high care medical facilities to the high-risk patients who show any Covid-19 related symptoms.
The chief minister also decided to distribute around 16 crore masks among the people since wearing masks has been made mandatory during the lockdown.
He instructed the officials to distribute 3 masks each to 5.3 crore people in the state. Stating that implementation of social distance everywhere should be made mandatory Jagan said that markings at the supermarkets, shops, and Rythu Bazaars were necessary to maintain physical distance.
The cluster and zones should be updated regularly based on the level of virus infection so that it can be restricted. He also ordered officials to ensure qualitative treatment and train every medical and paramedical personnel in the treatment of Covid-19.
As on Sunday morning, the state reported as many as 417 active positive Covid-19 in the state. Among the active cases, 13 are foreign returnees, 12 are infected from the foreign returnees, 199 are Markaz returnees, 161 are those who came in contact with Markaz returnees, and 32 cases are of those who returned from other states and other means.