GUNTUR: As many as 10 foreign nationals, who were placed in isolation upon reaching Guntur district on March 10, have been booked under various sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act, Disaster Management Act and Foreigners Act for violating visa norms and engaging in religious activities amid the COVID-19 pandemic, endangering people’s lives.
They hail from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, and are now in isolation in a mosque at Sattenapalli of Guntur district.According to Sattenapalli Urban Circle Inspector S Vijayachandra, the foreigners had tourist visas and had landed in New Delhi on different dates in January, February and March. They finally came to Sattenapalli on March 10, when the police took them into custody while they were undertaking religious activities in violation of their visa norms. By then, prohibitory orders were in place due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Since they are foreigners, we shifted them to a mosque in Sattenapalli where there is ample space and social distancing can be maintained. Periodical medical check-ups were conducted and their samples were sent for testing,’’ the inspector said.After their results returned negative for coronavirus, the police registered cases against them based on a complaint from local Village Revenue Officer Thota Srinivasa Rao.