Gear up to tackle third COVID wave: Jagan to officials

Amaravati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the officials to gear up for tackling the third COVID wave.

Chairing a review meeting, the Chief Minister said all private and government hospitals should be prepared to tackle any situation. He instructed the officials to conduct door to door vaccination drive. He asked officials to identify the unvaccinated people during the fever survey.

Officials informed the Chief Minister that six Omicron cases were detected in the state and none of them was hospitalized.

The Chief Minister said there is no need to panic and instructed the officials to be alert. He directed the officials to take necessary measures by monitoring the situation regularly as people are traveling from one place to another.

He urged the officials that fever survey should be conducted regularly. He instructed the officials to follow the `test early - trace early - treat early' policy.

The Chief Minister instructed the officials to conduct RT-PCR tests and trace people coming from foreign countries. He said primary contacts of positive travelers should also be traced.

Jagan said the monitoring and observation should be strong at ground level. He instructed the officials to get data from Village Secretariat Level. He instructed the officials to be prepared for administering booster dose.

All the front-line workers, people with chronic diseases, and elders will be administered booster doses. According to the preliminary estimations, around 75 lakh doses are needed to inculcate the 15-18 age group and administer booster doses to the elderly.

Till now, 98.96 percent of people have been administered the first dose and 71.76 percent have been fully vaccinated. Nellore, Vizianagaram, Prakasam, Anantapur, West Godavari, Kurnool, and Chittor districts completed 100 percent vaccination of the first dose.

The officials were asked to expedite the works of new medical colleges in the state so that modern medical facilities will be made available. He instructed the officials to complete the works as per a plan so that medical seats will be increased and better treatment will be available.

"The existing eleven medical colleges under Nadu Nedu programme will be revamped and the process of setting up of medical hubs will be expedited", he said.

Chief Minister has given a green signal for general transfers in the health department. He said to ensure adequate staff in every hospital and complete the recruitment process by February.