With Andhra Pradesh grappling with coronavirus, former chief minister and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu held a video-conference with frontline warriors in Andhra Pradesh over the Covid-19 situation in the state and the measures to be initiated to combat the pandemic.
In the video conferencing via Zoom app, Naidu expressed serious concern over the alarming rise in the Covid-19 cases in the state. He said the government has failed to take the warnings early on.
In the last two weeks, Andhra Pradesh has emerged as one of the biggest Covid-19 hotspots in the country, he stated. “Andhra Pradesh now has the fifth highest number of cases and the fastest growth in cases for any major state in the country. In a worrying trend, the death rate is also on the rise. Every second, a person is succumbing to Covid-19. The recovery rate is also low in Andhra Pradesh. I have warned and cautioned even before the outbreak of the pandemic in the state that Covid-19 could pose an unprecedented disaster,” Naidu stated.
Wit more than 80,000 positive cases, Andhra Pradesh is only behind four other states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Karnataka in the highest number of Covid-19 positive cases. Andhra Pradesh is inching closer to outdo Karnataka to claim the third spot in the highest number of Covid-19 cases. Currently, Andhra Pradesh registered 80,858 Covid-19 cases, while Karnataka reported 85,870 cases. With Andhra Pradesh reporting 6000-8000 cases each day, AP is not far claiming the dubious third position from Karnataka.
Naidu said people in Andhra Pradesh are looking with suspicion at the state’s efforts to battle the Covid-19 disease, creating complications for health authorities to grapple with reports of lack of hygiene and supply of sub-standard food to patients. In his video-conference, Naidu said there can be no compromise in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. The former chief minister said the only way to contain the spread of the virus is three T’s – Testing, Testing and Testing.
While lauding the efforts of frontline warriors, mainly doctors, nurses, paramedical and sanitisation workers in combating the pandemic, Naidu said the government should take a pre-emptive, pro-active and graded response in fighting the worst human crisis ever.
“Early tracing and detection is the only way to fight this medical health crisis. “The trust in public health care is low. It is so abysmally low that people are trying to avoid the public health care system. This is not only unfortunate but is proving to be catastrophic in an health emergency situation Covid-19,” Naidu pointed out. The TDP president said this weakened public health infrastructure has placed Andhra Pradesh on a weak footing in combating Covid-19.
Naidu also stated that there is no clarity in the guidelines or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in dealing with those who succumbed to Covid-19. Naidu said there should be SOPs in disposal of bodies, transportation of the dead from the hospital to the burial ground and disposal of bodies in case of unclaimed ones. Further, the former chief minister also underlined the need to evolve Standard Operating Procedures in sanitization of ambulances ferrying Covid patients. “Keeping ambulances clean and sanitized should be a top priority. Ambulances should be equipped with adequate personal protection gears,” he said.
