'AP Prepared To Handle If Any Surge In Covid Cases'

The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday said it is ready to handle any eventuality given the sudden spurt of Covid cases in certain countries, as the State has sufficient manpower, beds, drugs, and oxygen.

An official release said during the last 50 days, over 30,000 samples were tested resulting in 130 positive cases while there are some cases of a new sub-variant of omicron – XBB - which has similar features to omicron.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, on December 20,  wrote a letter to all the States requesting them to ensure that as far as possible samples of all positive cases daily are sent to designated INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 genomic gonsortium) genome sequencing laboratories that are mapped to the States and Union Territories.

To handle any surge in cases, the State is equipped with 12,292 general beds, 34,763 oxygen beds, 8,594 ICU beds, 1,092 paediatric ICU beds, 5,813 ventilators, 5,610 paediatric ventilators, 297 neonatal ventilators, 54,000 isolation/quarantine beds.

The state has established INSACOG genome-sequencing lab in Vijayawada. Mandatory positive samples from RT-PCR labs are being referred to this lab for further testing, said the release.

Two doses of vaccination were completed for the above-18 age groups of the population, including healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers (FLWs) workers. Also, 100 per cent precautionary dose is completed for HCWs and 93 per cent for FLWs, it further said.

The State government has established 29 RT-PCR labs across the State to test the suspects while 10 Covid rapid test kits were made available at Dr. YSR Village Clinics to test any symptomatic persons.

There are sufficient quantities of personal protection equipment made available such as sanitizers, masks, gloves, and PPE kits, it added.