Bring down positivity rate to 5 per cent: TS Health Secretary

Health Secretary, Director of Medical Education review Covid situation in Nalgonda

Nalgonda: Health Secretary SAM Rizvi on Monday instructed Medical Officers of Primary Health Centres to work with a target to bring down Covid positivity rate to five per cent in the district.

Rizvi and Director of Medical Education Srinivas Rao reviewed the PHC-wise Covid situation at a meeting held in MPDO office of Haliya in the district. He expressed displeasure over the high positivity rate of Covid cases in some mandals in the district. He pointed out that the corona positivity rate was nearly 30 per cent in some mandals, and questioned the Medical Officers of PHCs whether they were sharing the details of Covid patients in areas where the positivity rate was high.

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The officials, particularly medical officers of PHCs, should work with a time frame to bring down the positivity rate to five per cent. The time frame should not be confined to the PHC level, and it should be set for sub-centres and ANMs also, he added. He also underlined the need to stop Covid deaths by tracing positive cases as early as possible. “We should work with a strategy to break the chain to control the spread of the virus,” he said.

Stating that the second wave was more serious than the first one, he said the increase in positivity rate was a serious problem since it increases the burden on hospitals. He also underlined the need for the decentralization of isolation centres. He instructed the officials to open an isolation centre at the place where the corona positivity percentage was more than the district average.

Stating that household fever survey should be conducted effectively, Srinivas Rao instructed the officials to increase the number of Covid tests in the hotspots, where the corona cases were reported high in number. We should work with two stringencies of prevention and treatment in Covid-19. He suggested the officials take steps to create awareness in the public on preventive measures including social distance, using face masks, frequently washing hands and others.

District Collector Prashant Jeevan Patil, District Medical and Health Officer Kondal Rao and others attended the review meeting.