Coronavirus outbreak: Suryapet surge gives Telangana brass the shivers

HYDERABAD: Health authorities in Telangana said they were worried about the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus in Suryapet district, about 135 km from Hyderabad, after 26 new cases were reported on Tuesday, pushing Monday’s tally to 56 cases. The state’s coronavirus caseload also rose to 928, while 194 have been discharged so far.
Worried over the spread of virus in villages of Suryapet, the government told special Covid-19 officer Venugopal Reddy to monitor Suryapet round-theclock.
“Suryapet will be under tight lockdown, while red zones are under scrutiny all the time. Sodium hypochlorite solution is being sprayed in all the containment areas regularly,” Suryapet collector T Vinay Krishna Reddy said.
In one case, officials said one person from Nalgonda, who attended a dinner hosted in Suryapet, may have spread the virus in the district. He had also gone to attend the mid-March Tablighi Jamaat meet in Delhi.
After Hyderabad, Suryapet district has the highest number of cases with 80 patients.
IAS officers appointed as special officers
A total of 4,346 people are under quarantine in the district and only one Covid-19 patient from the district has been discharged from Gandhi Hospital.
A medical and health team will tour Suryapet on Wednesday, and a high-level review meeting will be held in Hyderabad the next day.
Worried over an increasing number of cases, the government on Tueaday also appointed IAS officials as special officers for three districts. Sarfarj Ahmed will be special officer for Suryapet, Rajat Kumar Saini for Vikarabad and Ronald Rose for Gadwal. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Area also continues to report high number of Coronavirus positive cases (19 ) while Nizamabad reported three more cases. In Asif Nagar area, four members of the family tested positive. The family had contact with a positive patient who had travelled to Delhi.