COVID-19 tally crosses 400 in Andhra; death toll 7

VIJAYAWADA/GUNTUR: The number of Covid-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh rose to 405 on Saturday, with 24 more samples testing positive. As many as 17 of these new cases are in Guntur district, where a death due to the infection was also reported, taking the toll in the state to seven.

The district administration has decided to enforce the lockdown more strictly from Sunday, when all shops — except pharmacies — will be shut. “If the number of positive cases keeps rising, we will let shops selling essential commodities open only once in two days,’’ said Guntur Collector I Samuel Anand Kumar. PDA will be invoked on repeat violators of the lockdown.

He appealed to the people to buy essential supplies for a month at a go and vegetables for three days. He also advised them to buy eggs to replace vegetables if necessary, and said they should contact the district helpline numbers, if they face any difficulty in buying essential goods. Of the 75 cases in the district, 57 are from Guntur city.

The infectee who passed away was a 51-year-old electrician from Dachepally, who was suffering from tuberculosis for the past two months and being treated by a local private doctor. On Thursday, he was referred to the government hospital at Guntur as his condition deteriorated, and the next day he was shifted to the Fever Hospital, where his swab samples were sent for testing. However, he died while undergoing treatment and his samples tested positive on Saturday.

Gurajala DSP K Srihari said the victim did not have any travel history, and details of contacts are being collected. So far, the police have identified 13 primary contacts, including eight family members from Narayanapuram of Dachepalli mandal, and shifted them to a quarantine centre. Their samples have been
collected for testing.

Meanwhile, a woman cancer patient from Gudluru village in Prakasam district tested positive for coronavirus while she was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Hyderabad, and a youngster in the region who was admitted to RIMS on Friday with symptoms of Covid-19 passed away. Test results are awaited. District revenue and police officials rushed to Gudlur on Saturday evening and shifted the primary contacts of both victims to the RIMS isolation ward. The areas near the victims’ residences were sprayed with disinfectants and a house-to-house survey was started to identify people with Covid-19 symptoms.

District Wise Break-Up.

Anantapur - 15
Chittoor - 20
East Godavari - 17
Guntur - 75
Kadapa - 30
Krishna - 35
Kurnool - 82
Nellore - 48
Prakasam - 41
Visakhapatnam - 20.
West Godavari - 22.

Total deaths - 7

Recovered and discharged - 11.