The COVID-19 isolation ward in the Government General Hospital here, which has been designated as the regional COVID-19 centre by the State government, is fully equipped to treat patients from south coastal Andhra region, according to SPSR Nellore District Collector M.V. Seshagiri Babu.
Addressing the media, he said 1,000 beds had been arranged to treat patients. Another 1,200 beds would be made available shortly, he added.
As patients from other districts were expected to throng the GGH, the services of private Narayana Medical college would be availed to treat patients suffering from other diseases, he said.
Meanwhile, activists of the Indian Red Cross Society distributed masks and sanitisers to the needy in the city. In Prakasam district, the authorities roped in two leading private hospitals here to augment the facilities for treating persons with the dreaded disease.
District Collector P. Bhaskar held a meeting with the representatives from the Sanghamitra Ramesh hospital and KIMS on Friday. It was decided to admit persons with suspected symptoms of the disease first to the two private hospitals and shift only confirmed cases to the COVID-19 isolation ward in the Government General Hospital.
The Collector assured them to make available required medical officers and health workers to attend to needy patients. Meanwhile, police had a tough time in regulating the large number of people who made a beeline for the P.V.R. High School Grounds to buy vegetables defeating the very purpose of social distancing.
Temporary stalls
The district administration arranged for temporary stalls to avoid crowding of people in the congested new vegetable market. The government is also taking steps to arrange for sale of vegetables through mobile vans at the doorsteps of the people, according to official sources.
Police came down heavily on persons making unnecessary travel during the lockdown period and also removed ropes and thorny bushes put on the road by scary villagers to prevent the entry of outsiders into their villages.
