Andhra Pradesh: As cases decline, beds lie vacant in Srikakulam's Covid care centers

VISAKHAPATNAM: With a sharp decline in Covid-19 cases and majority of infected persons opting for home quarantine, the number of vacant beds at all the five Covid Care Centers in Srikakulam district is increasing every passing day, and on Tuesday it reached to zero.
The existing 16 patients till Monday were discharged on Tuesday.
The centres used to handle nearly 3,000 plus Covid-19 positive patients in the peak period from September to October.
On Tuesday, Srikakulam district collector J Nivas said “We have noticed the beds at all the Covid care centers lying empty. We will wait for a few more days then we will go for closure of the centers.”
Srikakulam is the only district in the state to have spent nearly Rs 3 lakh on folk arts and artists, the services of which were widely used at the CCCs in order to give mental relief to the Covid19 patients, who benefited from it by recovering well from the pandemic without taking much time.
"Yes, we were the only district in the state to have facilitated the programmes with folk artists like plays at our centers," the Patrunivalasa center in-charge Vamsi Krishna Reddy said.
The district has five CCS at different areas like two centers at Chilakapalem, one each at Patrunivalasa, Tekkali and Kotabommali.
The CCC at Patrunivalasa had the highest number of beds (2100) when compared with the other centers.
“The patients with mild symptoms and whose oxygen levels were better than the normal and who don’t have separate isolation rooms at their homes used to admit the Covid care centers. Nearly 99% of the patients admitted here recovered well. The mortality rate was negligible when compared with the patients directly admitted at the hospitals,” Vamsi Krishna Reddy, who is an assistant supply officer at Tekkali, added.