Pune City Police Commissioner K Venkatesham said as on Monday night, nine personnel of the Pune Police had tested positive for the virus. (Representational)

Amravati has emerged has the biggest COVID-19 hotspot in Vidarbha – in terms of fatalities – with seven virus-related deaths being reported from the city so far.

All deaths have been reported from the congested Haiderpura locality of the city. All have occurred at home, with reports indicating that the deceased tested positive coming in later.

The first death was reported on April 4. Two deaths occurred much later in one day – April 20 – and subsequent deaths happened in quick succession – one each on April 22, 23, 24 and 25. Among the dead are four women and three men.

Overall positive cases in the district, however, stand only at 27, with no discharges yet. This stands in sharp contrast against Nagpur, which has seen only one covid-related death, despite a cumulative of 131 positive cases.

Asked how authorities couldn’t get a wind of the illnesses in the locality, despite it being declared a containment zone, Amravati Divisional Commissioner Piyush Singh said, “It is a densely populated area. We have been conducting home-to-home surveys and seeking cooperation and information. But the same is hard to come by. We can’t just go around forcing people to give information. All deaths have been of people above the age of 70 and with several co-morbidities.”

When asked about the containment strategy, Singh said, “We are now making sub-containment zones in the 100-metre radius of these deaths, as well as in case of all future deaths related to any other health problems, and will also be taking all people in that sub-zone into institutional quarantine.”

“We have made the lockdown further strict by disallowing even vegetable shops, since most vendors come from Haiderpura locally,” he added.