TIRUPATI: Eight frontline workers of government departments, who worked in red zones of Srikalahasti in Chittoor district, tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. Besides them, two pharmacy owners from red zones and a Delhi returnee in the region have been infected, taking the number of Covid-19 cases in the district to 39. Srikalahasti has 21 of these infectees.
The eight frontline workers comprise two police sub-inspectors, four revenue officials and two ward secretaries. This is first time police personnel have tested positive for COVID-19. The 11 new infectees, of whom four are women, were shifted to the Sri Padmavathi Medical College (SPMC) COVID-19 hospital in Tirupati, according to District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO) Dr M Penchalaiah.
Their primary contacts were also quarantined and their samples collected for testing. “As a precautionary measure, we conducted random testing among frontline workers in the district and eight tested positive,” said Collector Dr Narayan Bharat Gupta, adding that the situation is being assessed and contact tracing will be carried out.
With two pharmacy owners also testing positive, he appealed to all who bought medicines them to come forward for testing. They will be home quarantined, he added. Chittoor district’s first positive case was reported in Srikalahasti, and the patient has now been discharged. As the number of cases surged, the district administration labelled most parts of the temple town as red zones and imposed restrictions on the people’s movement.
The district administration and civic staff have deployed medical teams to conduct an Integrated Diseases Lens survey in the town to ascertain the spread of the virus. Officials said the positive cases were reported from thickly-populated areas in red zones. Meanwhile, some residents of Nagachapalem and Poosala Street resisted attempts to shift them to quarantine centres, after which revenue and police officials convinced them to be in quarantine.
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