After Telangana, the central government has decided to send an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) to Andhra Pradesh to take stock of the corona virus situation as the number of positive cases climbed to 1,400 in the state. The central team will monitor the lockdown process in the state and the overall situation in the state. The central team is visiting the state in accordance with the Disaster Management Act.
Each team will have six members including a senior public health specialist and a senior officer of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). These teams will monitor hotspot areas, assess health infrastructure, disaster management and provide additional assistance to states. The task force team will review the hospitalisation facilities in the state, preparation of the state in terms of available beds, ramping up the number of hospitals and care centres dedicated to Covid-19 management.
The team will monitor hotspots in the state, mainly Kurnool, Guntur and Krishna districts where high number of positive cases were reported. The state government confirmed 71 new coronavirus infections on Thursday, taking the total in the state to 1,403 and 31 deaths. Kurnool continues to have highest number of cases at 386, followed by Guntur and Krishna with 287 and 240 cases respectively
The central team will review the medical facilities at various hospitals and facilities in the state, assess the level of testing, availability of PPE and masks for health professionals, availability of oxygen beds, ICUs, number of surveillance teams. The team will submit a detailed report on the situation in the state following which a central plan of action will be suggested to further contain the virus. After the assessment, the team will issue necessary directions to the Telangana government for redressal.
The central government has already sent inter-ministerial teams to monitor certain hotspot districts in several states including, Telangana, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
