Incidence of Coronavirus continued unabated in Prakasam district as 33 persons tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours.
Ongole and Markapur accounted for nine fresh cases as the virus spread to more areas in the district. Three persons got infected in Singarayakonda, while 2 each contracted the disease in Chinarikatla and Podili, according to health bulletin released by the Medical and Health department.
A three-year-old girl from Markapur and a 79-year-old man from a remote Choolaveedu village were among the 22 men and 11 women infected. With this, the total number of confirmed cases rose to 533 in the district, which witnessed a surge of positive cases following increase in movement of people from across the district and State borders.
Identifying contacts
The health authorities were on their toes identifying the primary and secondary contacts of the infected persons, including some judicial officers. All those with suspected symptoms were screened for the disease.
The usually busy court centre in Ongole wore a deserted look as a stringent lockdown was implemented to prevent the spread of the disease in the wake of four judges, their family members and subordinate staff testing positive for the disease. Panic gripped people in the court centre area as one attender also tested positive on Monday. Meanwhile, judges took up for hearing petitions of urgent nature done through e-filing by lawyers.
The Municipal staff sprayed sodium hypocholorite in all the areas where fresh cases were reported. The district administration appointed special officers and committees at the district, Assembly constituency, mandal and village levels to arrest the spread of the disease.