Telangana to double Covid testing, vaccinations

Hyderabad, April 6 (IANS) As the surge in Covid-19 cases continues in Telangana, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar on Tuesday directed the officials to double Covid testing and vaccinations.

He held a video conference with District Collectors and senior officers to review measures for management of Covid pandemic in the state.

During the video conference that lasted for over two hours, the Chief Secretary issued numerous instructions covering the entire scope of Covid management including testing, tracing, treating, vaccination and enforcement of Covid appropriate behaviour.

Somesh Kumar directed the Collectors to steeply increase and double the number of tests being done on a daily basis in order to cast the net wider and identify as many Covid positive persons as possible.

He said that this would help in early identification and isolation of positive cases which would, in turn, help in controlling the spread of disease. Early identification would also enable early start of treatment which would reduce the probability of cases becoming serious.

Collectors were told to see to it that the pace of testing does not come down on weekends and holidays and that all testing centres must work on all days of the week.

The top bureaucrat asked collectors to ensure use of new testing app for meticulous contact tracing of every positive person and their subsequent testing also.

Collectors were asked to ensure that all symptomatic persons found negative in Rapid Antigen Tests were subjected to RTPCR tests also as per the guidelines of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

He stressed the importance of on-the-spot assessment and counselling of all Covid positive persons by doctors at the testing location itself. He also emphasised the need to hand over a kit of essential medicines to all persons found fit for home isolation.

Government Covid Vaccination Centres (GCVCs) have been opened down to the primary health centre level, increasing the number of GCVCs from 142 to over 1,000. He asked officials to ensure that daily vaccinations in GCVCs across the state exceeds 1.25 lakh a day from the present figure of 50,000.

Somesh Kumar also directed Collectors to strictly enforce the government orders on mandatory use of masks in public places and prohibiting religious gatherings and processions.