Telangana Chief Secretary Contracts Covid-19

Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar has tested positive for Covid-19 today.

After receiving the results of the test, Kumar appealed to those who met him in the last few days to get tested.

(He had called on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao yesterday, reports say.)

Just today, the CS had held a virtual meeting with the Collectors of the state during which he instructed them to increase the stringency of the Covid-19 prevention measures being implemented.

In the video conference that lasted over two hours, he issued numerous other instructions regarding Covid-19 containment measures. He repeatedly emphasised the importance of "testing, tracing, treating", vaccinating and strictly enforcing Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. He also asked them to ensure a doubling in daily testing rates across the state, even during weekends.

Kumar then directed the officials to speed up the pace of the state's vaccination drive as all those above the age of 45, irrespective of pre-existing health complications, had been directed to get vaccinated as well.

"Though Government Covid Vaccination Centres (GCVCs) have been opened in every part of Telangana, please increase the number of existing GCVCs from 142 to over 1,000. Please also make sure that the people of the state are made aware of the locations of the centres. Also, ensure that the daily vaccination rate in the GCVCs exceeds 1.25 lakh from the present figure of 50,000, soon," he added.

Besides the Collectors, Additional Collectors, DMHOs, Superintendents of District HQ hospitals, and ZP CEOs and DPOs, Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Syed Ali Murtuza Rizvi, Secretary (SC Development) Rahul Bojja, Special Secretary (Finance) Ronald Rose, Drugs Control Administration Director Dr Preeti Meena, and Public Health Director Dr Srinivas Rao also participated in the meeting