Chandrababu Naidu calls for total shutdown

Mangalagiri: TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday stressed the need for joint efforts by the Centre and the state government to pool all available public resources and thereby to use them to efficiently battle the deadly second wave of coronavirus.

Naidu called for a total lockdown for a limited period of time in all states and the country in order to break the current chain and to prevent rapid spread of the most dreaded mutants like N-440K.

Vaccination to all those above 18 years of age should be given immediate priority. As per reports, even those below 18 years would be badly affected during a future 3rd wave.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, the TDP chief said that they held an emergency politburo meeting in which their party discussed the Covid threat and made many suggestions. The Jagan Mohan Reddy government ordered just 13 lakh doses while all other states were procuring larger quantities to secure the safety of their people. Tamil Nadu has ordered for 1.5 crore doses while Karnataka and Kerala were procuring 1 crore doses. Maharashtra has decided to for universal vaccination for all its citizens.

Naidu asserted that the Centre and the state should first aim at protecting the lives of the people in this dangerous time when whole families together were succumbing to the virus. The governments should go forward with positive thinking and respond immediately to the health calamity.

America and England could ensure safety of the people's lives by taking up a massive vaccination programme. Even Israel was now safe after having faced a severe crisis in the past.

Chandrababu Naidu reiterated that the N-440K variant was indeed proving more dangerous than expected. It might have originated in 2020 itself as per the officials' claims.

The fact was that this mutant was spreading rapidly all over the country. The scientists have established that N-440K was first noticed in Kurnool, he said.

He urged the state government to focus on the oxygen supply logistics and management immediately so as to save the lives of patients. There should be a continuous monitoring on oxygen, beds and ventilators. It was unfortunate that the first meeting of the government on purchase of medical equipment took place only on May 3. This indicated the lack of seriousness with which the situation was being dealt with.

The TDP chief said that many of their party leaders and cadres have also fallen ill with the virus during and after the Tirupati by-election.

As a responsible political party, the TDP has begun special online counselling with the help of experts like Dr Lokeswara Rao who gave good services in the US. This way, online treatment was given to 195 members and all of them were safe now, he said.