VIJAYAWADA l TUESDAY l MARCH 31, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE CITY EDITION SAME TIME NEXT YEAR: NEW NO CHANGE IN DURATION OF GAMES ICONIC STADIUM TO BE QUARANTINE FACILITY The Games will be held over 16 days, as had been originally planned and The Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex in New Delhi will be used as a TOKYO OLYMPICS DATES OUT will now end on August 8. They were due to open on July 24 this year but quarantine facility. As reported by this newspaper, Sports Authority 10 the COVID-19 pandemic forced the first peace-time postponement of the of India had already offered it last week if the need arises. A letter The Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 23 next year, officials Games. In a statement, the IOC said the new dates would give officials the district magistrate sent to the SAI secretary on Monday said it SAI HAS TEN REGIONAL said, just a week after they decided to defer it by a year time to deal with the disruption caused by the pandemic would acquire the complex with immediate effect CENTRES ACROSS INDIA CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI AP govt to take over private hospitals if needed Medical institutes told to provide resources to fight COVID-19; State may use hotels, wedding halls, colleges and hostels too EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Vijayawada This is because there is an im- Surgical masks, N95 beds, rooms, wards, ICUs, ventila- minent need to scale up medical WHAT tors, testing labs, pharmacies, san- CAN YOU DO? masks, PPE, hand THE Andhra Pradesh government facilities for isolation rooms, iso- sanitisers itised mortuaries, and manpower, has passed orders allowing it to lation beds, ventilators and test- Chief Minister YS Jagan Volunteers (aged 20-35) to for emergency response, rescue use private and non-governmental ing labs, among other things, in Mohan Reddy has Mobile X-ray machines work in quarantine centres/ and relief operations. The orders healthcare institutes and their in- view of the swelling number of appealed to civil society, Ventilators isolation wards will come into effect immediately. frastructure to treat COVID-19 pa- positive cases, Reddy explained. philanthropists, NGOs, Meanwhile, Agriculture Minis- tients. “Private medical college- Directives were issued to au- Pulse oximeters Supply of food, water, linen, ter K Kanna Babu said officials trusts, organisations sanitation support at attached hospitals and other thorities of private and non-gov- and individuals to chip in Bi-PAPs were told to identify private hospi- private hospitals in the State are ernmental medical institutes un- quarantine centres/ tals and medical colleges and have and supply medical gear. isolation wards/hospitals required for their services to be der the AP Epidemic Disease He also asked medical Medical personnel and them empanelled for COVID-19 JOY OF GIVING used in toto for COVID-19 treat- (COVID) Regulations 2020 and Dis- personnel to help the support staff Philanthropists may contact treatment. Collectors have been ment,” the order, issued by Special aster Management Act 2005, ask- government fight COVID-19. District Revenue Officer told to take over hotels, wedding Farmer R Srinivasulu Reddy, who couldn’t get a good price for his crop, Chief Secretary (health and medi- ing them to make available all Transport, logistic halls, and even colleges and hos- Here’s what’s needed support (DRO) to get involved distributed bananas to the needy in Kadapa on Monday | EXPRESS cal) KS Jawahar Reddy, said. their resources such as isolation tels to treat patients, if needed. TWO MORE POSITIVE CASES IN AP The number of coronavirus-infected people in the State rose to 23 on Monday, with a 72-year-old and a 49-year-old testing positive. Both the men had returned to Rajahmundry from Delhi SIX DEAD IN TELANGANA The Telangana government late on Monday said it has recorded a total of six COVID-19 deaths. The first was reported on March 28. However, no clarity was given on whether the five subsequent deaths occurred in a day or over a longer period | P5 Six nurses at chest hosp in Vizag fall ill EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Visakhapatnam SIX nurses, who were working in the isolation ward at the Government Chest Hospital in Visakhapat- nam and treating COVID-19 patients, have been quar- antined as they reportedly fell sick. The nurses said they were working under stress and had been on the job for eight hours a day without weekly off days. They alleged the hospital management was informed about the shortage of nurses Now, 17 nurses in the ward, but no action was for 70 patients taken. The isolation ward, housing With the six nurses over 70 patients, had just 23 being quarantined, nurses, according to AP Nurs- just 17 nurses will es Association State president have to cater to the Nirmala Kumari. These 70 pa- 70 patients in the tients include six who tested isolation ward. The positive for COVID-19. Kumari nurses had already said the nurses were staying complained of being on the hospital premises, away overworked, and had from their families, which add- said they were under ed to their stress. “The 23 nurs- stress and could not es were working in three shifts even get a weekly of eight hours each,” she said. day off Now, just 17 nurses will have to cater to the 70 patients in the ward, making it more difficult for them to discharge their duties effectively, Kumari explained. Incidentally, more nurses were attached to the VIMS, which is yet to start functioning in its full ca- pacity, she said, adding that additional nurses were not allocated to the Government Chest Hospital. Hos- pital superintendent Dr Ravi Kumar could not be contacted over the phone for his response. Exodus ebbs after Centre cracks whip EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi A day after the Centre cracked the whip against four senior Delhi government officers for failing to curb the migrant exodus to check the spread of coronavi- rus and directed all states to seal their borders, there was a semblance of normalcy across India, though some officials exceeded their brief and sprayed bleach on bunches of migrants in at least two states to disinfect them. The government also sought to quell rumours on the extension of the 21-day lockdown, with Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba describing them as “fake news”. It was those rumours that had prodded mi- grants to leave Delhi in large numbers for their na- tive places. The Army, too, did its bit to dispel fake news, rub- bishing social media posts about a possible declara- tion of emergency in April. The matter of the migrant exodus reached the Su- preme Court as well, with a bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde and Justice L Nageswara Rao observing that panic and fear had become a big- ger problem than coronavirus. The bench sought a report from the Centre on the measures taken to pre- vent the migrant workers from going to their native places, after hearing two different petitions through video conferencing. The court said it would not like to create further confusion by issuing directions on measures the gov- ernment is already taking. 7,060 BOOKED FOR VIOLATING LOCKDOWN NORMS Police have booked around 7,060 persons in the state for violating the lockdown norms, said DGP Gautam Sawang. He conducted surprise checks near PVP and Trendset malls on Mahatma Gandhi Road here on Monday. Sawang said every VIJAYAWADA TUESDAY individual should take responsibility to prevent the spread of 02 31l03 l2020 COVID-19 and strictly follow lockdown guidelines. “We have West Godavari: 08812222376; East Godavari: 8841361763 Srikakulam: 6300073203; Guntur: 08362271492 intensified our vigil against foreign returnees. So far 22,000 foreign returnees have been identifief. Apart from that, Prakasam: 9381470327; Visakhapatnam: 9666556597 1902 Chittoor: 9849902379; Nellore: 9618232115 HELP for any instructions were given to officials to provide exemption for Vizianagaram: 08922227950 / 9494914971; complaints Kadapa: 08562245259; Anantapur: 08554277434 goods carrying vehicles,” the DGP said. He said a help desk has not related to been set up to create awareness on door delivery. LINES 0866-2410978; 9491058200 AP: Krishna district: your health Kurnool: 9441300005 110 KEPT IN ISOLATION Cops emerge unlikely heroes in a pandemic ‘280 from Prakasam Police personnel on duty share problems they face on daily basis during the ongoing 21-day lockdown RITIKA ARUN VAISHALI and neither let my children go took part in Hazrat @ Vijayawada any way near him till he cleans himself up. But I am proud to EVEN as civilians find safety be a wife of a police officer.” Nizamuddin meeting’ in the comfort of their homes, Meanwhile, there were police and traffic officials have many who were scared to go IVNP PRASAD BABU @ Ongole with sodium hypochloride and been putting themselves in near their family members bleaching powder. The teams great danger and distancing even after sanitising them- AUTHORITIES are said to have would continue surveying for themselves from their families selves. “Even though the very identified around 280 people the next 14 days. by reporting to duty every sin- first thing I do after reaching hailing from Prakasam district The authorities were also gle day amid the existing pub- home is take a shower, I isolate who attended a religious con- mulling to utilise the services lic health emergency. myself in a separate room. gregation at Hazrat Nizamud- of science teachers of govern- Despite knowing that they Usually my wife washes my din in Delhi recently.