HYDERABAD: In view of the rapid rise in Coronavirus cases, the Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have stepped up precautionary measures and tightened the procedure with regard to the purchase of ‘over-the-counter’ (OTC) medicines for fever, cold and cough. In a notification to all medical shops and pharmacies, the two state governments have advised pharma retailers to note all the details of such customers because they could be potential COVID-19 positive cases.

The Telangana and AP governments have asked all medical shops to be cautious of such patients and note down details like their name, address and phone numbers since there is a chance that some of them could be either showing symptoms of COVID-19 or trying to conceal them with the intention of avoiding the 14-day mandatory quarantine.

In a memo, Principal Secretary-Municipal Administration and Urban Development of Telangana Arvind Kumar said that it has been observed that due to "hesitation and perceived social stigma", people suffering from fever or cold symptoms which might be similar to coronavirus are approaching the medical shops directly on their own and asking for fever medicines.

"It is imperative that in a proactive manner we follow up on these cases where the people are having fever and other such symptoms which might be similar to those of coronavirus. We should be able to contact these patients and get a test conducted depending upon the symptoms," the memo read.

The state governments have also directed the officials to get the list from the pharmacies and maintain a directory of all such cases and get the tests done on cases which are having symptoms.

Meanwhile, on Sunday Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao announced the extension of Lockdown till May 7 to curb the chain of COVID-19 spread.

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