AMRAVATI: A 52-year-old man and a youth tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday night, taking the total number of cases to 10 in the state, the state health department said.
While the 22-year-old youth returned from the US to Vijayawada, the 52-year-old returned to his native town Guntur after attending a religious congregation in Nizamuddin Mosque in New Delhi, the department said in a bulletin.
The youth was admitted to a local government hospital in Delhi on March 21 upon his arrival from Washington and discharged the next day.
He reached Vijayawada by flight and went home.
He visited a government hospital along with his father on March 23 and was kept in isolation, it said.
On Wednesday night, his medical examination report tested positive for coronavirus, the bulletin said The 52-year-old man attended a religious meeting at the Nizamuddin Mosque, along with 20 others for two-and-a-half days.
He travelled from Delhi to Vijayawada by the Duronto Express and went home by car to Guntur on March 19.
He visited the hospital in Vijayawada on March 23 and his blood sample sent for examination tested positive, the bulletin said.
The health department said another person belonging to Andhra Pradesh was also afflicted with coronavirus but was admitted at the Gandhi Medical College in Hyderabad.
He did not travel to the state. The bulletin said results of 13 other people are awaited.
Authorities in Anantapuramu and Kurnool districts registered cases against three people for violating the home isolation guidelines.
Kurnool Collector G Veerapandian said two foreign returnees were arrested and brought to the government quarantine facility as they violated the home isolation protocol.
Similar action was taken against one person in Anantapuramu district, according to Collector Gandham Chandrudu.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy reviewed the situation with Deputy Chief Minister A K K Srinivas and top officials.
Srinivas later told reporters that the government decided to keep groceries and other shops selling essential commodities open from 6 am to 1 pm during the lockdown period.
Social distancing would be maintained through special marking in Rythu Bazaars (farmers' markets) for people to buy vegetables, he said, adding that village and ward volunteers were undertaking a survey of each household to assess conditions.
Health staff are being deployed to all districts to take required preventive measures extensively, he said.
State Municipal Administration Minister Botsa Satyanarayana spoke to his Telangana counterpart K T Rama Rao on Wednesday night and brought to the latter's notice the plight of AP students stranded in Hyderabad.
Botsa said the students were being made to vacate their hostels but they had nowhere to go in view of the lockdown orders and ban on travel.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney also spoke to her Telangana counterpart Somesh Kumar on the issue.
Following this, the Telangana municipal minister issued instructions that student hostels and post-graduate student mess be kept open.
The Andhra Pradesh government also advised the students not to venture out of the hostels and call the helpline number '1902' in case of any trouble.
Meanwhile, the YSR Congress MPs, MLCs and MLAs decided to contribute a month's salary to the CM Relief Fund for tackling Covid-19.
The Telugu Desam legislators too announced donation of their month's salary to the CMRF.