Partial curfew improves Covid situation in north Andhra

VISAKHAPATNAM: Partial lockdown is showing its impact with north coastal Andhra districts reporting a downtrend in positive cases since the last few days. The impact is more in Srikakulam, where positive cases have come down by half on Sunday.

Srikakulam district, which reported 1,338 cases on Saturday, registered 971 cases on Sunday. Likewise, Visakhapatnam district recorded 2,308 and 1,668 respectively; showing a decreasing trend in number of cases.

Incidentally, district administrations have closed fish and meat markets on Sunday to prevent congregation of crowds.

Srikakulam authorities took initiatives and convinced traders about voluntarily shutting down their shops around 2 p.m. This was much before the state government imposed the shutdown.

Further, forming of village level management committees and survey of fever cases has reduced Covid-19 cases to a considerable level.

“We have opened Covid care centres at strategic locations to prevent not-so-serious patients from occupying beds in hospitals. Increased awareness among people is also showing positive results,’’ said a senior health official.

In Visakhapatnam, main hospitals like CSR Block in King George Hospital and VIMS have no patients waiting in corridors. Patients with oxygen saturation levels from 90 to 94 percent are being sent to Covid care centres and only those below 90 are being admitted into the main hospitals, said officer on special duty (OSD) for north Andhra Dr. P. V. Sudhakar, principal of Andhra Medical College.

“We are also selectively picking up serious cases from Covid care centres and treating them at our hospitals,” Dr. Sudhakar told Deccan Chronicle on Sunday. He said overall load on the main hospital has reduced since last one week. Around 15,000 patients are undergoing treatment in home isolation and only 2,000 are in various government hospitals, he stated.

CITU state president Ch. Narsinga Rao said beds arranged in corridors of Visakha Steel Plant General Hospital have been removed in and there are no more patients waiting in line for admission. “The pressure on private and corporate hospitals has come down,” he remarked.

Left leaders have been monitoring government and private hospitals since the second wave began taking its toll.