The COVID-19 cases in Chittoor district crossed the 70,000-mark on Saturday, followed by over 700 casualties. In spite of the daily average of cases emerging at 800, the recovery rate at 90% has come as a breather to the officials in the district.
According to the District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO), M. Penchalaiah, though the district is witnessing a high number of cases daily, it was confined to Tirupati, Chittoor municipal corporations, followed by Srikalahasti and Madanapalle municipalities. He observed that the virus spread was rapidly brought under control in the rural areas compared to the urban belt.
Special medical teams
“The recovery rate is close to 90% in the district in recent days, while the number of cases under institutional admission is around 4,000, and about 2,000 under home isolation. Special medical teams at the COVID hospitals are promptly attending to the emergency cases in case of their shifting from home isolation to the hospitals,” Dr. Penchalaiah said.
The DMHO said that the COVID task force personnel were tracing primary and secondary contacts of the emerging positive cases, besides guiding the infected persons as to whether they should opt for institutional or home isolations. “We suggest and are ensuring that elderly patients, aged 60 or above, are admitted to hospitals. Daily, about 6,000 tests are being conducted in the district,” he said.
Meanwhile, as the spread is restricted to urban areas for now, people in most of the rural belt and municipalities other than Srikalahasti are in a relaxed mood. However, social distancing, wearing of masks and hand sanitising at the business outlets has become a farcry.