The district is limping back to normal, in small pockets though, with activity resuming in 210 industrial units, which are now permitted to operate as per the revised guidelines of the Union government.
The district administration has received 232 applications seeking permission to revive operations. Of them, 210 have been cleared and seven are under review.
Permission was denied to 15 industrial units as they did not come under the exempted category, district Collector Gandham Chandrudu said on Wednesday.
A district COVID-19 task force meeting was organised via video link with the participation of people’s representatives from all the constituencies and BC Welfare Minister M. Sankaranarayana.
“While agricultural operations are continuing, opening of industries with proper social distancing norms will give an impetus to the economy,” the Collector said, and sought the opinion of the MLAs on the pros and cons of the lockdown, or its relaxation.
Meanwhile, the district witnessed four new positive cases in the day, taking the tally to 58. One of them, a 65-year-old woman from Hindupur, died on April 26, but her sample tested positive now. Twenty persons had been discharged so far after treatment.
The latest death was the fifth in the district, and all of them had tested positive only after their death.
The other three persons who tested positive were a 22-year-old youth from Arvind Nagar in Anantapur city, a 25-year-old youth from Guttakindapalli of Dharmavaram mandal and an 85-year-old woman from Nikampalli of Hindupur town.
Testing facility inspected
The Collector, along with Sub-Collector T. Nishanthi and assistant collector M. Jahnavi, inspected the COVID-19 Samples Testing Centre at Hindupur, and said that proper planning in the collection of samples should be done and 192 samples tested every day at the facility.
Meanwhile, the samples of the 53 journalists were collected in Anantapur on Wednesday. Joint Collector S. Dilli Rao advised them to take precautions while discharging their duties and adhere to the safety norms.