KHAMMAM: With as many as seven positive COVID-19 cases, five of them on a single day, being reported in the district till Sunday night, the Khammam town and the adjoining rural areas are under high alert while the fear of Coronavirus has now gripped these areas, forcing the people to voluntarily follow the lockdown restrictions.

The district administration, meanwhile, declared Khilla, Pedatanda and Motinagar as containment zones and closed all the roads leading to these three areas. The armed police forces, who have been deployed in the containment zones, are not allowing anybody to step out of their residences. While the single-day spike of five positive cases on Sunday has left both the officials and the people in the grip of virus fear, the District Medical and Health Department has sent 32 samples to Gandhi Hospital for testing and anxiously waiting for their results.

Referring to the case of a five members of a family contracting virus, District Medical and Health Officer Dr B Malathi said: “A 65-year-old man from Khilla area tested positive for the virus. When his family members were tested, his wife, son, daughter-in-law and 10-year-old granddaughter also tested positive.”

Police register cases 
The municipal corporation officials started using RTC buses to transport the essential provisions and vegetables and deliver them at the doorsteps people living in three containment zones. The police, on their part, registered cases against 26 persons for breaking the lockdown rules and shifted them to Two Town police station. 

Meanwhile, Khammam Two Town Circle Inspector T Gopi sustained some minor injuries when a vehicle hit him from behind during vehicle checking. He was taken to the district headquarters hospital in Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay’s vehicle.