VIJAYAWADA: In the biggest surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the State so far, as many as 21 people tested positive for coronavirus since Monday night, taking the total number of infectees in AP to 44.
Among the 21 new cases, 17 attended a religious meeting in Nizamuddin in New Delhi last week. Three of the patients are women, and one is a 10-year-old. Of the 44 cases reported till Tuesday, 19 had attended the gathering in the national capital.
According to a medical bulletin issued by the government on Tuesday, eight patients are from Praksam district, five from Guntur, four from Visakhapatnam, two from Lepakshi in Anantapur district, and one each from Krishna and East Godavari districts.
One of the 21 patients is a close contact of a person who returned from Delhi and tested positive. Both hail from Delhi. A 65-year-old infectee from East Godavari district recently returned from Saudi Arabia.
A 10-year-old and a 34-year-old woman from Lepkashi were in close contact with a person who returned from Mecca and is now in Karnataka. Officials are now tracing those who came in contact with the infectees. Meanwhile, the administrations of Guntur, Prakasam, Krishna, East Godavari, Visakhapatnam and Anantapur districts have initiated containment measures in the areas around the patients’ houses. As many as 256 samples were tested between 9 pm on Monday and Tuesday night. Of them, 235 returned negative.
Meanwhile, 291 people, including those who came in contact with people who tested positive and those who returned from the religious meet in Delhi, were admitted to isolation wards in Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore, Chittoor, Kadapa, Eluru, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, and Srikakulam. In Guntur district, the primary contacts of confirmed cases were admitted to the isolation ward at a private medical college. They hailed from the Macherla and Tadikonda, among other regions. As many as 55 people in Kadapa district, all of whom returned from Delhi, were admitted to the isolation ward at RIMS-Kadapa. In Eluru of West Godavari district, six people who attended the religious meeting in Delhi were admitted to the Government General Hospital.