Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday said that the coronavirus cannot be eliminated and "we have to live with it" while taking the necessary precautions in day-to-day activities in order to prevent the infection. He also appealed to the people to not discriminate against Covid-19 patients.
In a televised address to the people of the state, the Chief Minister said, "The coronavirus will come and go after running its course. It can infect anyone, even me, and we have learn to live with it in the days to come. It may take about a year for the vaccine to be developed. Once it comes it will be given to all."
He told the people that everyone has to make some lifestyle changes to boost their immunity levels, maintain social distancing and take care of the old and the sick.
"Even if it infects someone, it is not a fatal disease as 80 per cent of cases can be cured at home and only 4 per cent need critical care in hospitals," he said.
Jagan said while people should take all the precautions as per the guidelines, if anyone shows symptoms, the person should contact a doctor using the toll free number provided by the state.
He further said that the state has 676 mandals, of which 63 are red zones and 54 are orange zones, and the remaining are green zones which account for 80 per cent of the total mandals.
While safeguarding the green zones, we have to see that orange and red zones gradually come into the green zone. Hopefully activity may pick up in the green zones soon, he added.
He also said that public transport might not resume for some more time, but private vehicles would be allowed in the green zones.
Praising those working to contain the situation, the chief minister said, "Whether it is the mortality rate or the number of cases, our state is better placed and on behalf of the people of the state, I thank the frontline workers who are doing a great job in these tough times."
He said it has been a month since the lockdown was implemented and initially, there were no proper facilities to conduct tests. But now the state is ahead as compared to other states in the country with an average of conducting 1,300 COVID-19 tests per million population and so far, a total of 74,511 tests conducted in the state.
“We had no virology lab initially but now we have nine such labs and we stand first in the country in conducting the number of tests per million.” he said.
Five dedicated hospitals have been exclusively allotted to COVID-19, besides the district level hospitals and quarantine centers are well equipped with 40,000 beds in quarantine centers across the state, he said.
Hospitals are well equipped with PPEs and N-95 masks. Isolation wards have been set up, medical, paramedical, and technical staff have been recruited. By May 15, a notification will be released to fill all the vacant posts in other hospitals as well, he said.
The chief minister said that the government has given the contract of sewing masks to women self-help groups and will be supplying three masks each to the people.
The women SHGs are bringing out 40 lakh masks per day and the distribution will be done first in red zones followed by orange and green zones.
During the month of Ramzan, members of the Muslim community has agreed to offer prayers from home, he said.
Comments
0 comment