Ensure social distancing at airports, Andhra Pradesh CM tells officials

Vijayawada: The state government is ready for flight services in the state starting from Tuesday.

Though the services were originally scheduled to begin on Monday, they were deferred by a day as the government was not prepared yet for the movement of the people through the airports.

The state government has ordered the officials to follow Covid-19 and lockdown norms at all airports in the states from where flight services are starting.

The airports of Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Rajamahendravaram and Tirupati are ready for operations. The Kadapa airport is likely to be ready in a day or two, sources said.

The airports would observe physical distancing at the booking and checking points besides using sanitizers at every stage. Only the passengers with mask would be allowed to board the flight even if they have a ticket booked online, the sources said.

Chief minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy asked the officials to ensure that the Covid-19 norms are strictly observed at the airports. He wanted the officials to conduct Covid- 19 tests on all passengers before boarding the flight or after alighting. The test records would be maintained with the officials till the results are available and the persons concerned would be sent to quarantine if they reported positive.

Meanwhile, the chief minister enquired about the edema (swollen legs) disease in parts of East Godavari district. He directed the officials to provide better treatment to all the victims of the disease.

He also directed deputy chief minister and minister for health Alla Kalikrishna Srinivas to visit the area and meet the victims. He also told the deputy chief minister to send medical teams to the areas to provide treatment.

Similar cases were reported in the district in 2016 and again in 2018. The chief minister has told the officials to study the issue and find reasons to arrest its recurrence. The chief minister wanted medical teams to provide a permanent solution to the disease.