AP inch away from 5000 COVID cases; Jagan orders mass awareness campaign

Amaravati: With Andhra Pradesh reporting 154 fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 4,813, Andhra Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed officials to take up a mass awareness programme on COVID-19 and asked them to review the classification of clusters. Fortunately, no new deaths were reported in the state on Monday and the death toll remained at 75.

During a review meeting here on Monday, the Chief Minister said, “A mass awareness programme should be undertaken on the safety measures to stop the spread of the infection and the procedures listed for testing. There is no need to feel guilty or feel stigmatised in calling the helplines 14410 and 104 when in doubt."

The CM also said mass propaganda should be carried out through media advertisements which depict how to handle the situation and aim at removing the fear among people on COVID-19. “The publicity should be stepped up in the coming two to three weeks,” he said, adding that the assistance of ANMs, Asha workers and village volunteers should be taken in this regard.

The officials have given the details and data on COVID-19 cases, recoveries and deaths worldwide during the past week.They have also given district-wise details of the positive rate, mortality rate, number of tests conducted and the cases registered. They have explained in details the hotspots, and reasons for the rise in cases in the districts.

In the 71 centres in the 13 districts, there are 15,614 beds available and as of now 4,54,030 samples were collected of which 4,659 were proved positive, they said.

When the Chief Minister enquired about the movement of people through the state borders, the officials have said

that they have been concentrating on people coming from six states.

The Chief Minister said that those coming from other states should not be kept waiting at the border points and asked the officials to take necessary action to this effect.