Take up a COVID-19 awareness campaign, the governor tells V-Cs

Governor Biswa Bhusan Harichandan said Tuesday that the state’s university vice-chancellors should start raising awareness campaigns about COVID-19 in a mission mode.

In a video conference with the Vice Chancellors, the Governor announced that, given the alarming situation in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had discussed the pandemic situation with the Prime Ministers and Governors in two separate meetings, in which he did so, stressing the need to implement a five-fold strategy – Testing, tracking, treating, COVID-appropriate behavior and vaccination – and called for a joint fight against the pandemic.

He said the pandemic posed a serious challenge to the colleges and the role of the vice chancellor was critical in putting in place effective safety measures for the students and staff without compromising the academics.

They also had a greater responsibility to raise public awareness of protection and prevention issues by using the services of the NCC and NSS cadres.

The governor said students should educate their parents and those in their neighborhood about the importance of using masks, maintaining physical distance, and frequent hand washing. You should visit at least five homes each day and begin surveillance by the community. He said the 10 top performing colleges in each district and the top three universities in the state would be appropriately rewarded for their work.

He said the students had the power to reach out to society and create awareness, and appealed for them to come forward and take the fight against the virus.

Mr Harichandan said the state was second in running COVID-19 testing during the first wave and this time it was way ahead in the country for testing, tracking and treatment.

The governor appealed to all sectors of society to extend their cooperation to the government in controlling the spread of the pandemic.

Education Minister A. Suresh said people should avoid the three “Cs” – closed environments, crowded places and contact with others – while the three “Ts” – testing, tracking and treating – should be used effectively to stop the virus from spreading contain.

Education Department Special Envoy Satish Chandra, Secretary to Governor Mukesh Kumar Meena, and Chairman of the AP State Council of Higher Education K. Hemachandra Reddy attended the program.

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