No AP mutant of Covid, says Andhra minister

Naveen S Garewal

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Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, May 6

The Andhra Pradesh Minister for Information and Public Relations Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani) has said there was no new mutant of the COVID-19 and this was just “misinformation” being spread by politicians of the state opposition. There is no clear diagnosis about the new mutant that is being called the Andhra Pradesh variant and coded as N440K mutant.

In a conversation with the media at Amravati, the minister refuted former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader N Chandrababu Naidu’s allegations about N440K variant virus having been detected in Kurnool and that it being more virulent was spreading fast.

He said there was confirmation about the spread of the N440K virus and claimed that senior scientists had confirmed that there is no new mutant virus in the country except B.1.617.

Claiming that the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister had asked all hospitals to provide free treatment to all COVID-19 patients, he said the situation in the state was under control. So far 67,42,700 people have been vaccinated with all two doses across the state and to date out of the 73,49,960 doses of vaccine supplied by the Centre.

The state he said had the capacity to vaccinate 10 lakh people a day but the vaccine supplies were inadequate. In the state he said 2.04 crore people between the 18–45-year age group and 1.32 crore population falling above the 45-year age group and an additional 3.53 lakh frontline workers required vaccines. But for the availability of the vaccines the state was totally dependent upon the Centre.

The states had increased beds for COVID-19 patients to 44542, and the supply of oxygen, vital medicines like Remdesivir are in place in all hospitals. Over three lakh people in every 10-lakh population have been tested so far standing with 7.12 per cent of Positive Rate, 85.16 per cent Recovery Rate and only 0.69 per cent Mortality rate.