VIJAYAWADA: Krishna district witnessed a spurt in Covid-19 positive cases with 20 of them reported from Vijayawada alone on Saturday. The district administration revealed a shocking fact that two lorry drivers spread Covid-19 to 40 persons in two localities in Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) by flouting quarantine norms --- playing cards with neighbours.
In Krishna Lanka, 24 persons contracted the virus through a lorry driver, who returned from Kolkata. All these cases were recorded in a span of 48 hours prompting officials to bring more areas under Red Zone. Explaining the reason for sudden spurt in corona cases, Krishna District Collector A Md Imtiaz said a lorry driver of Gurrala Veera Raghavaiah Street in Krishna Lanka is the main source of transmission. “He returned to Vijayawada from Kolkata via Odisha on April 4.
On April 17, he developed symptoms and was admitted to the New Government General Hospital, which was converted into a Covid-19 hospital. On April 20, he tested positive,’’ he said. The driver, who felt bored, played cards and other indoor games with neighbours violating home quarantine and social distancing norms. This was revealed in police investigation. All the 24 persons who came in contact with him, tested positive. All of them are residents of Raghavaiah Street, Ranadheer Nagar, Old Police Station Road, Bramarambapuram, High School Road, CVR Street and Gunturivari Street in Krishna Lanka, Imtiaz said.
AIIMS-Mangalagiri Teleconsultation
AIIMS-Mangalagiri will offer teleconsultation six days a week across the State. To avail the service, patients can book their appointment through e-Paramarsh mobile app or by calling the hospital. The interested can call or even send messages to the given numbers between 9 and 11 am from Monday to Saturday. Doctors will call patients after 11 am.
VRDLs to come up in all districts soon
CM Jagan Mohan Reddy stressed the need for improving basic infrastructure in the health sector in the State. Directing officials to make YSR Telemedicine a permanent service, he asked them to set up Virology Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDLs) in all districts.
Low pressure in Bay
Untimely rain lashed Tirupati, Nellore and Visakhapatnam on Saturday. A low-pressure area is likely to develop over South Andaman Sea and adjoining South-East Bay of Bengal around April 30, according to the IMD report. As a result, thunderstorms are likely to occur in Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra for four days
Drivers spent time playing cards, indoor games
Same is the case with another lorry driver from Karmika Nagar who tested positive for Covid-19. He spent time with neighbours playing cards and other indoor games. “The lorry driver spread the virus to 16 persons,’’ the Collector said. “Despite the concrete efforts of officials to combat the spread of coronavirus, a few individuals spread it with their irresponsible behaviour. We request the public to follow lockdown strictly and stay at home as one person can be a carrier for transmission of the virus to 24 others,” Imtiaz said.
With the spurt in cases in the two localities in the city in a span of 48 hours, which took the total to 127, the district administration has decided to enforce lockdown strictly across Vijayawada. VMC officials have been instructed to supply essential commodities like vegetables and milk to the people at their doorstep in the eight Red Zones, he added.
With the spike in corona cases reported from Krishna Lanka and Karmika Nagar (Machavaram), the district administration declared the two localities Red Zones, taking the total number to eight, which include Vidyadharapuram, Kummaripalem Centre, Khuddus Nagar, Old Rajarajeswaripeta, Ranigari Thota and Sanath Nagar. Police have intensified patrol in the two localities. Meanwhile, the VMC health wing formed special teams to take up a door-to-door survey thrice within 1 km radius of the houses of corona positive cases to identify people suffering from normal flu like symptoms or acute respiratory syndrome.
“The district administration provided 6,000 rapid test kits to the VMC to test people with symptoms of the virus at 26 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) spread across the city. Apart from that, medical teams are testing people through swab collection, TrueNat machines and Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Emphasis was also laid on enumerating the number of senior citizens in the hotspot areas. If there are any persons with corona symptoms, they will be home quarantined and persons who are in need of medical treatment will be shifted to the GGH in special ambulances. The teams have tested 758 people with rapid test kits,” VMC Chief Medical Officer of Health Shalini Devi told TNIE. The municipal corporation also organised medical camps at PHCs in 64 wards of the city to treat the people suffering from common ailments.
Vijayawada’s first patient recovers
The first Covid-19 positive case was reported in Vijayawada on March 20. The affectee returned from London and after recovery, he was discharged from hospital. A 65-year-old man was the first person tested positive for virus in Krishna Lanka. He returned to Vijayawada from Mecca on March 10 via Hyderabad in a bus. On March 22, the man was admitted to Covid-19 hospital. He tested positive for the virus on March 27. After undergoing treatment for 14 days, the man was discharged from hospital on April 10.