he Coronavirus positivity rate in Andhra Pradesh has fallen to 6.58 per cent in a month’s time, from 25.56 per cent on May 16.

At a Covid review meeting by Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, officials said the positivity rate in all the districts is below 17.5 per cent, including less than 9 per cent in seven districts and between 10 – 19 per cent in six districts.

Likewise, active Covid caseload dropped to 80,013 while the recovery rate rose to 94.61 per cent.

Meanwhile, the 104 Covid helpline number received five lakh calls from April 15, including making 6.41 lakh outgoing health advisory calls to people while 2,700 calls were being made at the time of the review meeting.

Until Monday, the southern state reported 2,303 black fungus cases, out of whom 157 victims succumbed to the disease.

As per the directions of Reddy, officials released an order to support the families of health department staff who succumbed to Covid while discharging Covid duties.

“The Chief Minister directed officials to ensure they receive financial assistance soon and (told them) to plan to provide financial assistance to health staff of private hospitals who were treating Covid patients and succumbed to Covid,” said an official.

Reddy has been apprised of the treatment facilities being readied for children in government hospitals, including an action plan on increasing ICU beds and providing oxygen to infants and children.

Preparations are being made to raise the number of ICU beds to 1,600 and oxygen beds to 3,777 for children, including recruiting paediatricians, staff nurses and other supporting staff even as the CM instructed to complete the recruitment process in a month’s time.

According to officials, some children are facing post Covid health problems related to the lungs and kidneys for which Reddy directed officials to provide treatment under the Arogyasri scheme.

Incidentally, the CM told officials to fix treatment charges under Arogyasri, considering the realistic situations so that hospitals won’t suffer while the government is paying bills to network hospitals within three weeks.

On the establishment of health hubs, the Chief Minister suggested that they need to be set up near habitations to ensure hospitals are set up in all the directions in towns and cities.