ONGOLE: With a married couple testing positive on Saturday, Prakasam district now has three coronavirus cases. As such, the district machinery is on high alert and taking a number of steps to ensure that the contagion does not spread further.
Collector P Bhaskar rushed to Nawabpeta of Chirala rural mandal, from where the fresh cases were reported, on Saturday night and directed the officials to take up sanitisation work in a 3 km radius. Later, he conducted an emergency meeting there at Chirala municipality office to discuss the immediate steps that need to be taken in the affected area.
Amid the lockdown, further restrictions were imposed in the area. As Nawabpeta has been declared ‘high-risk’, local authorities spent the Sunday morning disinfecting the area and all precautionary measures were put in place. Around 25 teams, comprising staff from medical, revenue, panchayat raj, municipality and police departments, were tasked with tracing others who either travelled to the place or came in contact with the infectees.A survey for around 1,500 households was launched to collect data regarding the health condition of each and every person living in the vicinity.
According to information, as many as 60 persons accompanied the 60-year-old man from Chirala when he attended a religious conference at Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi on the night of March 13. He returned to Ongole via Vijayawada by Duronto Express and Jan Shatabdi Express on March 18. Before and after his trip to Delhi, the patient stayed with his son and daughter-in-law at their Indira Nagar residence. The patient even attended prayer gatherings in Nawabpeta local mosque and a death ceremony on March 20 in Chirala. He and his wife were shifted to Ongole-RIMS isolation ward, where both of them tested positive.The authorities have identified seven persons in Kanigiri, four in Kandukuru, two in Chirala-Perala limits and one each from Chimakurthy and Veligandla who came in contact with the two infectees. Of the 15, 10 have already been isolated.The patients’ son, daughter-in-law and their three-year-old have been placed in the medical supervision at the RIMS isolation ward. An auto driver who was hired by them was also kept in isolation.
Corona Hotspots to remain completely shut
To control, contain and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in six wards—16, 17,18, 20, 21 and 22--that were identified as corona hotspot areas in Vijayawada, Krishna district administration on Sunday ordered for total shutdown of all shops and establishments in these areas. However, officials maintaining law and order, vehicles supplying essential goods, police personnel, government officials and mediapersons would be allowed to operate. Also, Krishna Lanka in Vijayawada has been declared containment area as a positive case of covid-19 is from the locality. Ward nos 17 and 18 under the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, which fall under one kilometre radius from the area of the identified positive case have also been declared as containment areas. As many as 14 checkposts have been set up in Krishna Lanka and its surroundings
31 shifted to isolation ward in Guntur District
After the identification of two new covid-19 cases in Macherla on Saturday, 31 persons from the area were shifted to a quarantine centre for testing, on Sunday. The two persons went to Delhi to attend a religious congregation with another person who previously tested positive for the virus in the district. The youths from Macherla were admitted to the government fever hospital in Guntur city on March 26. The officials further conducted an inquiry and found that six persons also travelled with the two positive COVID-19 persons. The doctors with the support of police personnel shifted as many as 31 persons who came in contact with the duo. Six were shifted to an isolation ward in Katuri Medical College of Guntur and samples were collected for testing, according to Macherla urban circle inspector Rajeswara Rao
Search on for 12 missing
Police officials are on the lookout of 12 recent foreign returnees from Prakasam. As their details such as addresses provided by the Centre do not match with the data collected by the volunteers, these persons were yet to be traced. According to official information, till Saturday, a total of 1,068 persons reached the district and, except the 12, all were traced and put in home isolation