Just over six months after registering its first case of Covid-19, Andhra Pradesh on Sunday has surpassed a grim milestone with 4,24,700 Covid-19 cases in the state, with no end in sight to the crisis.
The state of 49.39 million people has registered 3,884 deaths from the virus, the state health ministry said in its daily update.
With the increase in coronavirus cases, Andhra Pradesh might surpass Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in the country, within a month.
Maharashtra tops the coronavirus chart in the country with 7.64 lakh cases. Andhra with 4.24 lakh cases is now the second-worst hit state. Tamil Nadu has recorded 4.15 lakh cases.
Officials said despite a large number of fatalities, the mortality rate was still low at 0.92% against the national average of 1.81%.
The leader of opposition slammed the Andhra Pradesh government for the rise in Covid-19 cases.
TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu termed it as complete mismanagement and utter failure of the state government concerning Covid-19 preventive measures.
He said, «It›s a complete breakdown and inaction on the part of the government. As a fallout of the crisis and its current management, the citizens of the state are being exposed to several challenges.”
He wrote a six-page letter to the Chief Secretary and highlighted the need to provide proper treatment and give affordable Covid-19 treatment to the people.
Naidu in his tweet said, « Wrote to Chief Secretary of GoAP to bring to her kind notice the failures of AP Govt related to COVID management including changes in testing pattern, lack of facilities, inability to protect frontline warriors, COVID treatment becoming unaffordable & loss of livelihood & jobs.”
On the other side, YSRCP spokesperson Dr. Kammela Sreedhar who treats the Covid-19 patients told The Daily Guardian that Naidu has made false allegations. He told the TDG, Andhra Pradesh follows ICMR and WHO guidelines and conducts 70 thousand tests per day.
“Unless we conduct tests on a massive scale, we cannot detect cases and save lives. As per WHO & ICMR, what matters is the mortality rate and treatment. Andhra Pradesh has far lower mortality rate than national average”, Sreedhar said. adding Andhra Pradesh is the only state where Covid-19 treatment is free. The state’s recovery rate is 78% whereas the national average is 74%.
