VIJAYAWADA/GUNTUR: In the wake of the second positive case of COVID-19 in Vijayawada and first in Guntur city, district administrations of Krishna and Guntur swung into action and cordoned off the entire 3 km radius from the residence of the patients and started collecting details of their contacts.
Krishna district administration has declared the area around 1 km of the house of the patient a containment area. “The entire area is sealed and the health workers and volunteers checked people from the area. As many as 20 people, who were in close contact with the patient, have been identified and put under home isolation,” said Krishna district collector A Md Imtiaz on Thursday.
A total of nine people belong to three different districts of Andhra Pradesh were in contact with the patient and the respective district administrations have been alerted, he added.
The 22-year-old man, who tested positive for coronavirus, belongs to Gayatri Nagar in Vijayawada. He returned to New Delhi from Washington DC on March 20 by Air India flight AI 104. He was admitted to a hospital in New Delhi after his screening at the airport. Later, he was discharged from the hospital on March 21.
He then took another Air India flight (AI 459) and reached Vijayawada on March 22. He travelled in his friend’s car from Vijayawada airport to his home. On March 23, after developing symptoms of the virus, he visited Vijayawada Government General Hospital (GGH) with his father. He was then admitted to the isolation ward and his samples were sent for testing on the same day. His samples tested positive on Wednesday.
The entry and exit of people and vehicles have been restricted in the containment area of 1 km, with 12 check-posts manned by officials of police, traffic, health and sanitation departments.A team of officials from police and personnel of rapid response teams, led by a deputy collector, has been deployed to monitor the disinfect spraying process and movement of the public. Around 30 teams have been roped in to conduct a door-to-door survey in the locality.
The 52-year-old man tested positive for COVID-19, who hails from Mangaldas Nagar in Guntur city, attended a religious meeting in Nizamuddin Mosque in Delhi on March 14 and stayed there for two-and-a-half days.
On March 18, he boarded Duranto Express and the next day morning, he arrived in Vijayawada. He took a cab to go to Guntur on the same day. After falling ill, he visited a private hospital on March 21 and later admitted to the isolation ward in fever hospital on March 23.
On March 25, he tested positive and shifted to Vijayawada GGH.Guntur District Collector I Samuel Anand Kumar said four family members of the patient were also admitted to the isolation ward in Vijayawada GGH.