Mandatory screening for migrant workers, students entering Andhra Pradesh

By Newsmeter Network  Published on  2 May 2020 4:30 AM GMT
Mandatory screening for migrant workers, students entering Andhra Pradesh

Amravati: The Andhra Pradesh government, on 1 May, said that it will screen all people entering AP from other states, and if a person tests positive during the screening, s/he will be placed under quarantine.

Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy, during a review meeting on Friday, said an action plan for a thorough screening of all migrants, students, and other people coming from other states should be put forth. While citizens coming from abroad will have a non-COVID-19 certificate, they will still be placed under home quarantine, he said.

Fishermen returning from Gujarat to districts like Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, and Vizianagaram will also be screened before sending them home, said officials.

The AP government has conducted 1,02,460 COVID-19 tests in the state till 9 a.m on Friday at the rate of 1,919 tests per million population. This includes 17,585 tested from 32,792 people identified in the family survey.

Jagan also asked officials to ensure that food and other facilities are adequately available in quarantine centers and asked them to ensure that health care facilities are available for everyone. The officials have been asked to maintain co-ordination between village clinics, primary health centres, and telemedicine centres.

During the review meeting, the Chief Minister said the state will provide free power to farmers for nine hours to power 81 per cent of the feeders in the Kharif season.

Meanwhile, the state medical and health special secretary, Jawahar Reddy, said Andhra Pradesh has a low rate of COVID-19 cases with a total of 1.02 lakh tests being conducted so far. Positive cases were reported in three new clusters on Friday. About 72 per cent of the cases are from Kurnool, Guntur, Krishna, and Nellore districts. More patients are likely to be discharged in the next two days, he said, adding 82 patients have been discharged in the past 24 hours.

The state is also planning to set up a new testing center in Nellore to speed up the testing facility. Moreover, virology labs will also be set up in West Godavari and Vizianagaram districts. Andhra Pradesh is also collecting plasma from recovered patients. However, plasma therapy hasn’t been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research yet

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