VISAKHAPATNAM: Visakhapatnam district breached the 600-mark on Thursday. Total number of cases went up to 615 as 44 new cases were reported. This apart, one more death was reported in the district, taking the total number of deaths to five. A 41-year-old woman from Kobbarithota area died, while undergoing treatment at Government Hospital for Chest and Communicable Diseases (GHCCD).
She was brought to the hospital in a serious condition on Tuesday. Seeing the seriousness of COVID-19 spread, the district administration has notified three new containment clusters, taking the total to 127 clusters. These include 38 dormant clusters, 49 very active clusters and 40 active clusters. Jampara Veedhi, Kakaralova and Devangula Veedhi (Dondaparthy) are the new clusters. Also, till now 615 cases were reported in the district.
Of these, there are 338 active cases and 272 persons were discharged from various Covid-19 hospitals after treatment in the district. Total samples tested till now are 67,880. So far, 1,658 swab samples were sent for testing. Samples which have tested negative on Thursday are 1,298. Total negatives till now are 66,060.
Results of 1,205 swab samples are yet to come. There are 1,693 people in quarantine in 86 quarantine centres. There are 163 people in isolation and door-to-door survey was going on briskly in containment zones, District Collector V Vinay Chand said. Commissioner of Police RK Meena and Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) commissioner G Srijana held a review meeting on Thursday.
During the meeting, they decided to enforce lockdown strictly in all containment and red zones where more than 10 cases were reported. It has also been decided to seek cooperation of people in the sensitive zones. Meanwhile, police are counselling people, who violate safety norms, to wear masks and to step out of the home only for emergency. Adivasi JAC also decided to enforce voluntary lockdown at Paderu and Araku from Friday. However, the shops will remain open till 1 pm everday, according to the JAC leaders.