Amid rising cases, Andhra Pradesh to put in place action plan to tackle COVID-19

With a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the last few days, the Andhra Pradesh government on Friday said the state was "very close to a surge" of coronavirus cases and decided to put in place a concrete action plan to meet the challenge in all districts.

Reducing the time gap between onset of COVID-19 symptoms and detection to less than 24 hours and prolonging the time from detection to death (of a positive case) to six days should be the two main outcomes of the concrete action plan, according to Special Chief Secretary (Health) K S Jawahar Reddy.

The ultimate objectivity was to reduce the mortality rate to less than one per cent, which was now 1.31 per cent,he said, adding the state was "close to a surge" of virus cases.

As of Friday, Andhra Pradeshs COVID-19 aggregate was 40,646 cases, with 19,814 being active, with a positivity rate of 3.22 per cent.

In the latest Covid Instant Order on Friday, the Special Chief Secretary (Health) directed the district Collectors to re-focus on 12 action points in all very active containment clusters with emphasis on the two main outcomes.

He stressed on "very robust community surveillance" in all containment zones, where the cases were high and deaths reported, with focused screening of persons in the high-risk category.

He said sample testing should not be less than 90 per cent daily in the containment zones, with persons with COVID symptoms, those having less than 94 per cent oxygen saturation, frontline health workers, primary contacts of positive cases as the target.

"Contact tracing has to happen within 12 hours of a positive result being declared.

Constitute contact tracing teams with village and ward secretariat staff with supervision by the mandal and municipal-level teams," Jawahar Reddy told the Collectors.

The Special CS said Risk Communication and Community Engagement should be undertaken through women self-help groups, Anganwadi workers, resident welfare associations and village and ward volunteers.

He asked the Collectors to assess the availability of beds, including those with oxygen facilities and ensure Covid Care Centres were equipped with 3,000-5,000 beds each.

Jawahar Reddy asked the Collectors to set up a help desk at each Covid hospital and Covid Care Centre for the convenience of anxious relatives of a positive patient.

Meanwhile, state Covid Nodal Officer M T Krishna Babu said a dedicated helpline number 1902 was made available for coronavirus patients to report grievances, if any, related to supply of food, sanitation facilities and medicines at Covid Care Centres, Covid hospitals and quarantine centres.

In the 20 CCCs across the state, 3,071 persons were currently lodged while in 94 quarantine centres 6,727 persons were being taken care of, Krishna Babu said.

"In every district, the Joint Collector (Development) has been made the nodal officer to ensure quality food and medical supplies besides sanitation in all the CCCs, quarantine centres and Covid hospitals," he added.

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