Amid the coronavirus spread,an Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) on Saturday visited Telangana to assess the COVID-19 situation.The IMCT was led by Arun Baroka, Addltional Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti.The Central team appreciated the initiatives taken by the State government to contain COVID-19 in the state, an official release said.Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar made a detailed presentation on the steps taken by the state government to contain the spread of COVID-19.The Chief Secretary informed the team that all the departments are working as a team and prepared overall strategy for managing the COVID-19, the release said.Earlier, the team visited the 1,500-bedded COVID-19 hospital set up by the state government at Gachibowli and also the kitchen of Akshaya Patra Foundation where food, served to the migrant workers and the poor in the city, is prepared.A 14-storied sports facility at Gachibowli in the city has been converted into a COVID-19 hospital by the state government in just 20 days.State government officials explained about the facilities arranged at the hospital, another release said.The team saw the ICU, emergency wards, isolation wards and others at the Gachibowli hospital , it said.The team members enquired whether different protocol committees have been formed as per the guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry and whether medical and para medical personnel have been trained on the precautions to be taken and others, it said.During its visit to the main kitchen of Akshaya Patra Foundation, the team was told that about 1.50 lakh people are provided meals, in the afternoon and evening, every day.Food is served through the 'Annapurna' canteens of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), representatives of the Foundation told the team.The Central representatives asked about quality of food, hygiene, transportation and distribution and others, the release added.Observing that the COVID-19 situation is "especially serious" in major or emerging hotspots like Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad, Chennai and Thane, the Centre on Friday rushed inter-ministerial central teams(IMCT) to monitor the situation in these cities.The IMCTs would use expertise of the central government and augment the states' efforts to fight and contain the spread of COVID-19 effectively, the Centre said.Other members in the IMCT team are Chandrashekhar Gedam, Sr Public Health Specialist, Hemlatha, Director, National Institute of Nutrition, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, S S Thakur, Director, Ministry of Consumers Affairs and Shekhar Chaturvedi, Associate Professor, National Institute of Disaster Management.
