Nellore (Andhra Pradesh) [India], Aug 14 (ANI): Andhra Pradesh Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas interacted with COVID-19 patients at a quarantine centre in Nellore on Thursday through a video conferencing from Zilla Parishad Emergency Controlling Centre.

The minister said that as many as 138 hospitals in the state are being used as COVID hospitals.

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"Another 109 COVID care centres are identified for those with mild symptoms. More than 56,000 beds are available for coronavirus patients in the state. Help desks with round-the-clock call centres have been set up to help the patients," he said.

The minister also said that measures were being taken to see that beds are allocated within half-an-hour of the admission of a patient.

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He said that samples are being collected in more than 1,500 centres including 100 plus mobile units across the state.

"A huge number of tests are being conducted, that's why the number of cases is increasing. The CM has said that nobody who comes for treatment should be made to wait," he said, adding that special measures are being taken to increase testing.

Ministers Mekapati Gowtam Reddy and Anil Kumar, Nellore District Collector Chakradhar Babu, Joint Collector Dr Vinod Kumar, MLA Vara Prasad were among those who participated in the video conference.

Andhra Pradesh reported 9,996 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours taking the state's count of coronavirus cases to 2,64,142, according to state COVID-19 nodal officer. (ANI)

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