Union Home Minister Shah has praised the good work of medical and health officials of the state.
Hyderabad: Telangana government’s decision to strictly implement night curfew in the state from 7 pm to 5 am has been hailed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah who has recommended the same to other states which are fighting coronavirus or Covid-19. Shah was also impressed with the manner in which the intelligence wing of the state police was pressed into service to trace all foreign returned, sources said.
The Government of India has been appreciative of the initiatives taken by the K. Chandrasekhar Rao-led government in Telangana right from 22 March, the day of the Janata curfew, through subsequent lockdown till this weekend. Shah had particularly tweeted and called up medical and health officials of the state, praising their good work, said sources close to Telangana Health Minister Etela Rajender. Till now, 20,000 people are placed under home quarantine.
Till now, Telangana accounted for 59 positive cases and a death of a person from neighbouring Karnataka early this month. One major relief is that all those who were admitted to government-run Gandhi Hospital, the designated health centre for Covid-19, are recovering fast, with no signs of needing any ventilator. “This is big good news for us,” said Rajender while talking to this newspaper at a review meeting.
All those who were tested positive were either returned from abroad or were close contacts of them. Surprisingly, all fears of a stage-three spread—of community spread of the virus—haven’t come true till now. Only a doctor couple who consulted several patients, including those suffering from Covid-19 symptoms, are tested positive and now been admitted to Gandhi Hospital.
Except this, all other cases were of persons in proximity of the positive cases who returned from abroad in the last two weeks. “Around 37 degrees of Hyderabad’s temperature too could be one of the reasons for near absence of community spread of the virus,” said a senior doctor involved in treatment of Covid-19 patients at Gandhi Hospital.
Despite reports of positive cases of the virus having slowed down since 23 March when all international flights were cancelled, health officials haven’t allowed any let up in the preventive and precautionary measures, including implementation of lockdown and night curfew. All shops, including medical shops, are shut in Hyderabad city and all medical needs of public are met through police vehicles.
On Friday, the state notified Gandhi Hospital with 1,200 beds as the exclusive Covid-19 treatment center and shifted patients of other diseases to either go home or other hospitals. Starting with 30 beds for Covid patients three weeks ago, now the hospital will have all facilities—testing and treatment—at one place and pooled up all senior doctors here.
Besides, Minister Rajender held a meeting with managements of 22 private medical colleges and asked them to keep ready around 10,000 beds for Covid-cases, if necessary. As of now, three more government hospitals in Hyderabad and nearby areas are being used for quarantine of Covid patients. Samples of these patients are now tested at CCMB (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology) in Hyderabad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accepted a request from Chief Minister KCR last week to this extent and instructed the CCMB officials to open up their facility as a Covid-19 testing laboratory. A major challenge before the health officials of the government is to trace the missing foreigners who were advised home quarantine for two weeks. Most of these persons are not available for second and third testing as needed.
As per the police, there are around 20,000 persons who returned from abroad since 1 March and at least 5,000 of them are now missing for medical checkup. The intelligence sleuths who are visiting homes of such people have booked cases against them. Among them is a deputy superintendent of police in Bhadradri Kothagudem district for hiding his son, who returned from the US last week.
Though several people came on to streets during day time in the first two days, thanks to mild use of force by the cops, the countrywide lockdown is now strictly implemented in not just Hyderabad city, but across the state. Even villagers had erected blockades on the roads preventing others entering their habitats till 14 April. As the situation is slowing looking up, the Telangana government has decided to allow food delivery e-commerce companies to resume their operations in Hyderabad from Saturday. DGP Mahender Reddy, who held a meeting with representatives of Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon and Flipkart on Friday, issued orders to this effect. However, safety precautions will be in place for their operations.