Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas on Monday declared that the State entered Stage-II of COVID-19 outbreak.
Reviewing the infrastructure in place to check the spread of the disease in East Godavari district, Mr. Srinivas directed the authorities to be equipped with a 100-bed isolation facility in all the Assembly constituencies.
At the review, the Minister said, “First direct transmission of the disease, from the person who tested positive to his immediate family member, was recorded in Visakhapatnam. This indicates that we have entered the Stage-II of the disease. The State is geared up to tackle the situation on all fronts.” The Minister directed the Collector and medical and health officials to provide personal protection gear to those who attend to persons with suspected symptoms to the disease to prevent its spread.
“The district authorities have 100 sets of personal protection equipment as on Monday. The equipment should be utilised to attend to the suspected cases in time. The government is also prepared to provide more equipment on demand from the districts,” he said.
Results awaited
“As on date, there are 11,026 foreign returnees who are under home quarantine in the State. The lab results of 22 persons with symptoms of the disease are awaited,” the Minister said.
“All foreign returnees should be under home quarantine for 14 days,” the Minister added.
District Collector D. Muralidhar Reddy told the Minister that 103 persons on board the cargo ships off the Kakinada coast had undergone medical tests and none of them tested positive for COVID-19.
“All the 103 foreign nationals on board the ships will not be allowed to enter the land in Kakinada. However, the port operations are still on at the Kakinada deep seaport,” Joint Collector-II G. Raja Kumari told The Hindu.
