'Living with Corona is a must': CM KCR urges citizens to not drop guard against COVID-19

With the prevailing situation of the COVID-19 outbreak, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Friday assured citizens to not fear and urged them to not drop their guard against the virus. The Chief Minister stated that the stage has been reached where everyone needs to live with Corona. KCR also urged people to remain indoors as much as possible and use sanitisers as well.

The Telangana CM on Friday said, "We have come to a stage where living with Corona is a must. But none should have any fear about it. At the same time, people should not be negligent. Maintain personal hygiene. Wear masks, use sanitisers, remain in the house as much as possible."

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'No shortage of medicine and equipment'

Furthermore, KCR apprised the people of the abilities of government hospitals to fight the virus. He added that people need not spend large sums of money by seeking treatment in private hospitals. Government hospitals in the state are well-equipped to treat infected patients, the CM stated. KCR highlighted that COVID fatality rate in the state is less than the national average while the recovery rate is higher. 

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"In Gandhi and TIME hospitals, 3,000 beds are ready with oxygen supply facilities in Hyderabad alone. All over the state, 5,000 beds were kept ready with the oxygen supply facility. In all 10,000 beds were kept exclusively for the Corona patients. Such a number of beds were not there in the past. 1,500 Ventilators were kept ready. PPE kits and N95 masks were available in lakhs in numbers. There is no shortage of medicines and equipment. Government doctors and staff are rendering yeoman service, " the Telangana CM said.

At present, there are 13388 active cases of COVID-19 in the state while the total number of cases has reached 42496. 28705 patients have recovered from the infected and 403 deaths have been reported. According to a study published in the leading medical journal The Lancet, Telangana is one of the most vulnerable states against COVID-19. Researchers said that the “vulnerability” means the risk of consequences of infection, including spread, morbidity, mortality, and other socio-economic effects of the pandemic.

The study noted that Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Telangana, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Odisha, and Gujarat have a high vulnerability. The scientists said that the index aims to help planners and policymakers to effectively prioritise regions for resource allocation and risk mitigation strategies for better COVID-19 response.

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