There has been no respite from coronavirus for the people in SPSR Nellore and Prakasam districts in the wake of influx of people from other cities including Chennai and Hyderabad.

In all, 35 persons – 19 in Prakasam district and 16 in Nellore district tested positive for the disease on Monday. A sub-inspector who was in the forefront of the COVID-19 containment duty was among those infected in Nellore.

With this, the total number of confirmed cases rose to 457 in SPSR Nellore district and 133 in Prakasam district.

The number of positive cases went up by 10 in Nellore city, which saw an increase in the incidence of the disease coinciding with Unlock-1. Farflung places like Aluru, T.P.Gudur, Kavali, Venkatachalam and Venkatagiri reported fresh cases, a report compiled by the Medical and Health department said.

Containment measures

The health authorities stepped up cluster containment activities in, among other areas in the city, Satyanarayanapuram, Podalakur Road, Muthukur, Dargamita, Vedayapalam, Moolapeta, Beevinagar and Mulumudi bus stand centre in the wake of the spurt in cases.

The number of active cases in Ongole went up to 64. Four of the newly-infected persons had returned from Chennai and six others from Hyderabad. One of the infected persons had visited a COVID-19 hotspot in Nellore.

The health authorities in Prakasam district were perplexed over the disease spreading to remote villages of Raviguntapalli, Kattkindhapalli, Bodlagudur, C.H. Padu, Kanduluru, Jayanthipeta, Yedanapudi, Gollapalem and Mocherla in Prakasam district.

Purandeswari reacts

Meanwhile, BJP women’s wing national in charge D. Puraneswari attributed the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases crossing the 6,400 mark on Monday to the indifferent attitude of the Jagan Mohan Reddy government. Speaking to a cross-section of people in Ongole to know first-hand whether the financial assistance provided by the Centre had been passed on to them by the State government, she said the talk of a cure for the viral disease by taking paracetamol showed the lack of seriousness of the YSRCP government in checking the health hazard.