Amaravati, April 2 Appraising the Prime Minister on the measures taken in the state, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy assured him that necessary resources are being deployed to handle the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reddy participated in the Prime Minister's video conference with chief ministers, on Thursday, and explained the strategy adopted for containment of the coronavirus while ensuring minimum inconveniences for the public.
Reddy told the Prime Minister that of the 132 cases recorded in the state by Thursday, 111 are related to the Tablighi Jamaat event. He said while 91 persons had attended the event, 20 positive cases were people who had come in contact with the Delhi returnees.
"We have identified 1085 persons who attended Nizamuddin markaz and quarantined them. The cluster containment strategy is being implemented to have control over the situation," Reddy said and requested that the Centre send essential equipment to the state at the earliest.
The Chief Minister also appraised the Prime Minister about the measures taken to handle the potential coronavirus threat from foreign returnees to the state. From February 10 onwards, 27,876 foreign returnees to AP are under observation, of whom, 10,540 belong to urban areas and 17,336 are from rural areas.
During the meet, the Chief Minister also elaborated upon the regular survey being conducted with the help of volunteers, ANMs, Asha workers to ensure strict monitoring of the situation and in planning timely strategies.
As part of the COVID-containment strategy 2012 non-ICU beds have been set up in Vizag, Vijayawada, Nellore, and Tirupati. Additionally, special hospitals have been set up in 13 districts for COVID-19. A total of 10,933 non-ICU beds, 622 ICU beds have been set up in these hospitals. Apart from these, 20,000 more beds have been readied to accommodate cases in main cities and towns for isolation purposes. A total of 1000 ICU beds are ready in the state, the Chief Minister assured the Prime Minister Modi.
The ration has been provided to people along with an additional 1kg of dal for free and the same will be repeated for another two times in April. Moreover, financial assistance of Rs 1,000 will be provided to the poor for their expenses.
Stating that the COVID-19 crisis has forced the state government to postpone disbursal of employees' salaries by as much as 50 percent, the Chief Minister requested the central government to favourably consider the state's financial situation.
Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Chief Ministers of various states were among those present in the video conference.
( With inputs from IANS )