People in Anantapur were in for a shock on Sunday morning as the district administration and police personnel imposed an unannouced curfew in the city with all the shops closed and all the main thoroughfares deserted.
Unlike during the usual ‘announced’ lockdowns when shops are given a time slot(6 a.m. to 11 a.m.) to run their businesses, on Sunday none of the shops were opened and those who had planned to get some essential groceries had to either order online or had to wait. Many people had to run from one shop to another even to get milk packets.
Municipal Corporation vans, however, announced in different localities that the entire city was declared as a containment zone and none should venture out unless it was unavoidable.
15 more COVID Care Centres
On Sunday, Anantapur district registered 734 cases after testing 4,000 samples pushing up its tally to 9,723. District Collector Gandham Chandrudu said 15 more COVID Care Centres would be operationalised as the number of positive cases was likely to increase with the increase in testing capacity. “We wish to test 8,000 samples a day from Monday against the current 4,000. Samples were being collected from various locations 13 IMASQ and Sanjeevini vehicles throughout the district,” he added.
While 4,714 active cases were being treated, 4,926 patients had been discharged with 83 deaths till Sunday. On Sunday evening alone, 205 patients were discharged.
Kurnool tally
Meanwhile, Kurnool district on Sunday crossed the 10,000-mark with 1,213 new cases getting reported and cumulative total going up to 11,570. Out of the total cases, 5,373 were active and 6,035 have been discharged so far.