No Confirmation Of N440K Mutant Spread In State, Chandrababu Naidu 'More Dangerous' Than COVID-19: Andhra minister

Asserting Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government has been relentlessly working to provide medical services, he said Naidu is trying to defame the state’s image by falsely accusing the state government and scaring the people with false rumours.

Andhra Pradesh Transport and Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkataramaiah

Amaravati: Taking on Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu over his claims that N440K variant of the virus have been detected in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh Transport and Information and Public Relations Minister Perni Venkataramaiah on Thursday said the former is “more dangerous than Covid-19” and clarified there is no clear diagnosis about the mutant strain in the state.

Asserting Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government has been relentlessly working to provide medical services, he said Naidu is trying to defame the state’s image by falsely accusing the state government and scaring the people with false rumours.

“No confirmation has been made on the spread of N440K virus and senior scientists have also confirmed that there is no new mutant virus in the country except B.1.617...Chandrababu Naidu is trying to gain from these situations by making cheap politics around,” ANI quoted Venkataramaiah as saying at a press conference here.

The minister further said that 67,42,700 people across the state have so far received both doses of the vaccine, adding the Centre supplied only 73,49,960 doses of vaccine till date.

“If the Centre gives vaccine in abundance, the state has a capacity to vaccinate 10 lakh people a day. There are about 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 who require vaccines,” he said.

READ: EXPLAINED: What Is The AP Strain & Why Is It Said To Be 15 Times More Lethal

Highlighting the steps taken by the state government to contain the virus, Venkataramaiah said the beds have been increased to 44,542 besides supply of oxygen and 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. The government had also appointed drug control officials to monitor the supply and availability of Remdesivir drugs and also taking swift action by importing oxygen from Odisha and Karnataka,” he added.