VISAKHAPATNAM: With a 65-year-old woman from Chandaka Veedhi testing positive on Wednesday, the number of active cases in Dandu Bazaar has risen to 25, one fourth of the total cases in Visakhapatnam district. The spread of the killer virus in the area comprising narrow lanes and bylanes made the task of officials all the more tough, initially. An intensive surveillance was taken up in Dandu Bazaar to test all primary and secondary contacts.
The first case reportedly contracted the virus from a 27-year-old youth, who returned from Hyderabad. The youth, along with two woman family members, also tested positive. Since then, more people are testing positive. GVMC chief medical officer of health KVLG Sastry told TNIE on Thursday that they had quarantined almost all contacts of the first positive case and the ones being reported now are those that are already under quarantine. He said by quarantining a large number of contacts, they could check the spread of the virus to an extent.
Stating that there were no fresh cases, he said some cases which tested negative in the first test are now testing positive in the second test. The GVMC appointed ward special officers for each cluster to monitor intensive cluster containment strategy, he explained. Sanitary workers are spraying sodium hypochlorite solution on the main road and all internal roads and houses in the city. Door-to-door survey was taken up by Asha and ANM workers and health officials and fever clinics were set up.
District Collector V Vinay Chand and GVMC commissioner G Srijana have given strict instructions to restrict movement of people. There should not be any economic activity—only shops of essential commodities and milk are allowed to remain open, they added.