GADWAL: The death of a popular doctor and his wife due to COVID-19 in the neighbouring district of Kurnool has left the overburdened Jogulamba Gadwal administration in a fix and the people living in the rural areas of the district worried.
The administration, which is already struggling to contain the deadly coronavirus in the district that has so far recorded maximum number of positive cases across the Palamuru region, is now faced with a new challenge of identifying the people who visited the doctor in recent times as well as their primary contacts.
Due to the close proximity of their villages to Kurnool, people from the rural areas of the district who are suffering from any ailments and diseases used to regularly visit the doctor for treatment. What sent the district administration and the health workers into a tizzy is the three positive cases that were recorded in the district after the Kurnool doctor was reported dead three days ago.
On April 17, a person from Gadwal town tested positive and a day later, one person each from Vallur village of Itikyala mandal and Jammichedu village of Gadwal town tested positive for the virus. All three patients had visited the doctor for treatment.
Meanwhile, in another shocking news, five family members of a local politician, who passed away recently, tested positive for the virus on Saturday. This is a day after the deceased person’s son tested positive. Meanwhile, Jogulamba Gadwal has recorded two COVID-19 deaths till Saturday.
However, situation in Mahbubnagar, Nagarkurnool and Wanaparthy districts is said to be stable with no positive cases reported in the past two days. Wanaparthy has so far been free of COVID-19.