ONGOLE: With two more persons testing positive on Saturday, the number of COVID-19 patients rose to 43 in Prakasam district. Among the positive patients, one is a 40-year-old woman belonging to Gopal Nagar in Ongole and another a 45-year-old man from Gudlur. Both of them are primary contacts of two different positive patients who were shifted to COVID-19 isolation ward four days ago.
Around 25 primary and secondary contacts of the two positive patients were shifted to isolation ward. Their samples were collected and sent to VRDL for analysis. District authorities have intensified door-to-door survey in the areas where these patients reside and deployed teams to identify their close contacts. The authorities also sprayed sodium hypochlorite solution and bleaching powder.
Meanwhile, the authorities have discharged 30 persons who have completed 14-day quarantine period and tested negative for COVID-19. Government General Hospital authorities have sent 500 samples for testing with the help of Truenat TB machine/RTPCR machine. “The reports of first batch of samples (around 250-300) will be released on Sunday. Depending on the results of these tests, we will further conduct tests with CLIA machine,” RIMS deputy superintendent Dr Muralikrishna Reddy told TNIE.
On the other hand, police have registered cases for lockdown violation against 2,657 persons and seized 227 vehicles across the district. The police imposed a total of Rs 52.66 lakh fine on violators. Around 6,640 police personnel were deployed across the district. The district collector on Saturday conducted COVID-19 special spandana programme at the Collectorate and answered various queries through the toll free number.
3,500 masks distributed
Konijeti Srinivasa Rao from Santhanuthalapadu distributed 3,500 face masks worth Rs 40,000 to police personnel and health staff. He handed over the face masks to special branch inspector N Srikanth Babu and Dr Avinash at Prakasam Bhavan on Saturday and requested the officials concerned to provide the masks to police and health staff