Andhra Pradesh: Fever survey to begin today amid rising Omicron threat

During a review meeting on Covid preparedness, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy unveiled a new policy of ‘Test Early, Trace Early, Treat Early’.

Officials said that so far six Omicron cases were registered in the state and none were hospitalised and that more teams have been deployed for the door-to-door vaccination drive. Officials called for keeping track of people returning from abroad even if their test report is negative immediately upon arrival and they should be tested again after a few days. Officials also called for rigorous surveillance as a large number of migrant workers arrive in the state on a daily basis, and the fever survey should be extended to include them.

Government and private hospitals have been asked to review their oxygen supply arrangements. To encourage private hospitals to become self-sufficient in medical oxygen, the state government has proposed to give 30 per cent incentive to hospitals that set up their own oxygen plants. The hospitals availing the incentive have to complete setting up their oxygen plants by December end. The state is also setting up 11 new medical colleges, and medical hubs at all 13 district headquarters, and three more in the cities of Rajahmundry, Vijayawada and Tirupati, to provide better healthcare facilities.

Deputy Chief Minister (Health) A K Krishna Srinivas said that 98.96 per cent of the eligible population in the state has taken the first dose while 71.76 per cent received the second dose. Nellore, Vizianagaram, Prakasam, Anantapur, West Godavari, Kurnool and Chittoor districts recorded 100 per cent first dose coverage.

The minister said that preliminary estimations revealed that 75 lakh booster doses are needed for people including for those who are between 15-18 years age group. He said that 5 lakh frontline workers, people with chronic diseases and elders would be first given the booster dose.