Former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has launched a stinging attack on the Andhra Pradesh Government on the impending second wave of Coronavirus epidemic. He termed it as unfortunate that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi was raising awareness on physical distancing and mask-wearing, the AP Chief Minister was not talking at all on preventive measures. On the other hand, the AP Government was more interested in reopening the schools, theatres and liquor shops regardless of the threat of infections.

Mr. Naidu made his opening remarks at the ‘apfightscorona’ online forum with Covid warriors and those affected financially. He urged the Government to give equal emphasis to the fight against the deadly virus along with the economic revival measures. It should be noted that AP stood number 2 in the number of infections in the country and number 1 in virus cases per lakh population. A more focused, cluster-based approach would be necessary to effectively prevent the disastrous impact of the 2nd wave infections. There were reports of serious health complications and greater number of deaths in the second attack. In this backdrop, the future socio-economic recovery of any State or Country or a community would depend solely on how best they would take post-Covid management steps. A weekly audit of the status of infections would give an idea to effectively counter the epidemic.

Best approaches from around the world should be adopted for better management like the ones followed by Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. A cluster based approach with greater focus on super spreader groups was the need of the hour. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) should be followed to give better relief to the people. On the problems of weavers and Godavari flood-hit farmers, Mr. Naidu condemned the attitude of the Government which was behaving as if the people were not facing big problems. In such a crisis situation, the State Governments would have greater responsibility to support the people.